Father, we are thankful to you. We've been able to praise you and to sing songs about what you've done for us. To look forward with great anticipation about seeing you. To recognize that angels all around you, unfallen angels who are righteous and yet do not have anywhere near the ability and the opportunity to be with you in your presence, to have your son dwell in them as you do with us. May we not take for granted what you've given to us in Christ Jesus. May you bless this fellowship. And if there be one or some here who don't know you, that they would recognize the difference. It's not a bunch of emotions, although those play a part in our lives. It's the reality and the truths of what you've done and how your son has changed us. We thank you for that. We ask you to help us as we deal with ups and downs humanly, A lot of unknowns, a lot of needs. May you focus our attention on your word right now and on all the pressures that are out there. Draw us into your presence in a special way to see you, to get to know you better, to be more eager to obey as the Thessalonians have done, as we'll look at in this passage. We thank you for the opportunity, Father. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. As we've been going through 1 Thessalonians, we're now in Chapter 2. We're finishing up Chapter 2. recognizing what Paul felt about the Thessalonians. He cared very, very deeply for them. How did that happen in such a short period of time? And I think the number one thing was their response to him. They had immediately turned from idols to serve the true and living God. They made this rapid turnaround and consistently practiced it in their lives. Unlike what other church in the New Testament. The Corinthian church was hard work. It was a mountain climb. And once he got to the top, 2 Corinthians, Paul was trying to undo some of their zeal that went overboard. when they're really nailing the guy that sinned. He says, no, no, no, you got to back off. You got to, no, let's go the other way. Let's keep a balance here. Yes, we don't want you sinning, but you got to have a balance. The Thessalonians were just plotters. They made a serious, genuine decision for Christ, and they just kept moving forward. And this excited Paul. This brought out a relationship and a building of that relationship in such a way that you cannot explain unless you have led someone to the Lord. And you have had the privilege of discipling them for a period of time. It builds a bond that you cannot explain. A spiritual bond that's there. The Thessalonians, though, at the same time, were real people, just like us. They got up in the morning, they ate breakfast, they put clothes on, they had family needs, they had debts, they had emergencies. You went on a moto to the hospital, right? That was the form of ambulance that Julie took. And three of you were on one motorcycle, right? Yeah, that's normal down there. So you don't know what's coming today. The Thessalonians were just like that. Real needs, and yet really close to Paul. They weren't machines. We tend to think Paul was a machine. Jesus was a machine. Peter eventually became a machine. He had some issues there for a while. We think that they're not. They're people. They're real. They're just like us. Do not put them up on some pedestal and think, well, I'll never be like that. You better be like that. That's what God expects. That's what He's commanding. That's what His Word is given for. That's what church is all about. You come here to do what? Thank you very much, I hope you're hearing that. You didn't come here to be served. You haven't gone anywhere in life to be served, have you? Read Mark 10, 45. Even Christ himself didn't come here to be served. But to serve, and in his case, to give his life a ransom for many. We need to do the same thing with our lives. How are we laying down our lives for others? I had someone share with me, and I believe they're here, I haven't spotted all your faces yet this morning, who told me they get it, they understand what I've been pushing. And I said, I've been pushing it, the Scriptures have. We need to share the Gospel. That person didn't realize how much they encouraged me. It's like somebody's listening to God's Word. And they shared it in a way to tell me they were not only listening, they were responding to it. And we need to do the same thing. So here's Paul writing a group of people that he loved very dearly, and he's trying to direct them into a deeper walk with Christ. They're not doing poorly at all. They're doing very well, but that's not the end. Wherever you're at in your spiritual growth, we have a tendency to want to kind of level off. We sometimes want to call that retirement. Where's that in the Bible? I haven't brought that one up for a while, so I get to repeat it again. There's no such thing. You may change occupations. You may change locations. You may have a variety. You actually have more opportunity and more freedom to serve. So we need to get the crew ready that's going to Columbia next. Don't tell me you're too old. Harold went, right Harold? You're young. Yep. Talk to Harold if you think you can't do it. We want to encourage you to step out and let God provide. But stay away from the pit vipers. They're really nasty. And I found out the reason they call them that is because they have some kind of sensory organ. When Katie's finger got within range, that was the thing that lit up to that snake. And whoop! Nailed it. But she went looking for it, so we don't want you to think you're going to get nailed. Right? She likes snakes. It wasn't a bad thing. And God took care of her. Some of you like snakes and go looking for them. I'm not against snakes. But anyway, that's not the point. I'm getting a few faces and I'm picking on Katie. I'm not picking on Katie. She just learned a few things and she's going to be different with snakes in the future. Aren't you? Yes. So as we get into God's word here, and get away from where I'm getting in trouble, we see Paul's attachment. And so we want to look and find out the continued relationship Paul had. This is how we should be. I've got some people scattered, well now around the world, but I've got some people that I have relationships with. Mark Barrett's one of them who's coming to the camp in. We're calling it a camp in because we're not going out to a lake or out to some other residence. We're having the camp out in. Okay, so you understand why. We're doing it right here at the church, activities on the grounds and all of that. But Mark's going to come. He's one of the ones who regularly, it's almost every week, if not two or three times a week, he'll call me. Sometimes for the Bible questions, sometimes he's checking up on a prayer request I had. But we're always interacting. This should be going on. There needs to be somebody in your life that you're doing that with. If you're not, you're in trouble. You're disobedient, you're not in trouble for me, but you're in dangerous trouble. You've got to have that kind of relationship, that kind of responsibility, that kind of accountability where you interact. Paul had lots of them. They pulled at his heartstrings and that's what's going on with the Thessalonians. He went on to minister, but he never forgot them. And he wanted to see them grow up and become complete in Christ as he writes the Colossians. So here we see in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 17, But we, brethren, having been bereft of you, that's an interesting word, for a short while, in person, not in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you, I Paul, more than once, yet Satan thwarted us. How does Paul feel about the Thessalonians? He loves them, doesn't he? They're family to him, aren't they? Isn't that how you respond to families? That's not always how you go to reunions, because Uncle Harold's there, and Aunt Mabel's there, and sometimes there's people there that... Reunions are reunions, but when they're close family and you love them, you look forward to this time. This is my picture of the rapture. It's going to be the reunion of the church. And we're not going to be standing around staring at each other and finding out what we wore, or asking how you're feeling, and say, fine. None of that's going to go on. The focus is going to be on Jesus Christ at that point in time. But we're going to actually have that reunion where we are finally delivered, not from sin, because that's our justification, not in the process of growing to be more Christ-like, that's our sanctification, we're finally glorified, our transformation, the glorification that takes place. Philippians 3.20, when we become like Christ, we're taking on human bodies, new bodies that are able to be in God's presence. That's what it's all about. Who can hardly wait for that? Jesus. Do you understand this is his bride he's coming back for? Is that how you responded at your wedding? Oh man, can I put this off another week? That was all the hassles that went along with it. But your bride, where do all the eyes go when she walks in? On her. Who is Jesus Christ looking at when he returns? His bride. His focus is on us. Our focus will be on Him. And this is what Paul is excited about, ultimately. But for right now, we're still on planet Earth. And Paul says, for right now, I've been bereft from you. And that word, the idea of bereft here, is to be rendered an orphan. That's literally what the word means. That's an interesting way to describe a relationship. Paul says, I've been orphaned from you. I've been cut off. I don't have the family relationship right now. Did it bother him? What did he do about it? Prayed. How often? We're going to go through the prayers of Paul next Sunday, the second part. And we're going to go through Galatians all the way to Philemon. We're going to see how Paul prayed for these churches. You'll be amazed at the specifics of what he prays for. And as I stressed to you before, it's not a focus on the physical. That's our focus. Many of our prayer requests, if not most, are on the physical. Paul's arms. So as you go looking, those that are in their class for next Sunday morning, start noticing. Write down the thing. Take a separate page and write it down. Here's what Paul prays for, specifically. And start figuring out, how can I start praying for these things? Not that the physical doesn't matter, but this is temporary. This is eternal. This is permanent. This is what he really wants to go after. So he says, I've been orphaned from you for a little while. This separation, he says, I was deprived, bereaved is a word we'd use for that. But just for a little while. a limited period of time. He uses the term kairos, which is the idea of a season, a fitting opportunity. It needed to happen. It needs to happen with our children. A lot of parents hang on to them. Other parents are saying, when can I sign the orphan papers? Be gone with you, out of my life, which is also not the way it ought to be either. But there's a point in time where they're properly breaking off, getting independent. It really takes place in marriage, when you leave and claim to become one flesh. and all that that entails. But here's Paul saying, I had to go. I had ministry. You needed to grow up in some ways that you were depending on God and not on me. I've threatened you over and over and over again that I'm leaving one of these days. And what did I tell you to do about it? I just heard on the radio this week, the majority, I don't know what the number, I didn't get a number, majority of professed Christians in the United States don't even know the books of the Bible. They did a survey. I'm colorblind, I can't tell if you're turning red right now. That's between you and God. If you don't know the books of the Bible, learn them this week. That's a basic thing, that's not a command in Scripture. But if you don't even know what they are, how are you going to get to know what they're about? You're not even going to know where they fit in and what the bigger picture is. I encourage you to know that. But my original question was what? What are we going to do when you leave? Yep. So what's the answer? Go on. You mature enough to carry on. Press on. You don't need me. I'm just a messenger. Rejoice always. Pray with us. You've always wanted to say that, Jim. Yes, my funeral will be a celebration. We'll get there. We're not talking about my funeral. We're talking about... But you're going to do what you're doing already, right? I'm just a tool that's being used. Some for good, some for bad, right? My parents taught, well I shouldn't even go into what my parents taught, but we were learned to be quick with our mouths. What's that? Did I say we were learned? We were taught. We almost were learned. But we were taught to be quick, to have a quick response back. That's been very detrimental. Great for preaching, very bad for relationships. People react to me. I don't hesitate very long to give an answer, that's not always a good thing. Because I'm supposed to be quick to hear, slow to anger, but it's a need to sometimes listen. I'm learning. I'm almost 60. I told you by the time I'm 80, you'll really be impressed with where I'm at. Just like Harold. I'm trying to follow in his footsteps. And so here we are with this growing process that's taking place, and Paul says, I needed to go away. It was a good thing for you. There was this season, this kairos, this opportunity for you to do something. And that's to grow. Learn the books. Learn what's in the books. Memorize. Ben and I are working on Titus. He's ahead of me now. I'm sorry I didn't report. But we're going to have the book of Titus memorized in a couple weeks. As we work through that, it is amazing. The book is coming alive. That's what I'm going to preach on probably within the next year. You got it. The book of Titus. Great book. Great message that Paul's passing on to a pastor. And I need to study more thoroughly. And so as we go into that, you are taking time to walk with God in the sanctification process. If you're justified. If you've really come to Christ. You're not just religious. You aren't just going along with the motions. You're not just taking for granted that you were raised in it, so you must be a Christian. You're an American. No, you have a personal decision to make. And it involves repentance. It involves turning around like the Thessalonians did. Right? 180 degrees. Personal decision. It's not your parents that force it or some societal thing that forces it. The society is losing its moral basis. Because it doesn't have Christ. Morality will not save America. In spite of what many have taught through the years. They need Christ. They need the gospel. Be a politician, that's what God calls you, but your secondary role as a politician, your primary role is to share the gospel. He puts you in a unique role. As you are going, make disciples. This is what Paul did on a regular basis. And he built a relationship with them in such a way. They longed to see them and recognized when they were gone for a little while, it bothered him. And he says, I'm separating from you in person there in verse 17, but not in spirit. They were lacking His personal presence, His face-to-face relationship, but they weren't lacking the spiritual relationship they had through Christ. They had a close family tie. They were beloved of Him because of what Christ had done. See, the more we work on our relationship with Christ, the closer we get to each other. A lot of people, and I've talked to too many, and I have to be careful because my brain just takes off in many directions here. I've had a lot of people say, I've got to go spend time with my wife to get our relationship right. I'm going, if your relationship isn't right with your wife, that's secondary. Not that you don't need to spend time with her, but that's secondary. What it tells me, you have a problem with Christ. If you love Christ, you're going to do what to your wife? You're going to love her. We get this idea that love is some effort I have to put out, some motivation thing I've got to create in me. Love comes from God. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit and as I shared with you before, you don't walk to an orchard and hear the trees groaning and just trying to get the fruit out. They just stand there. They let the sun come in, let the water come up. They allow the processes to take place and there's the fruit. And you praise the tree for producing fruit? What did the tree do? It allowed itself to exist, if you can even say that about a tree. We went through 1 Corinthians 13, we're trying to explain, and I still think there's a little bit of confusion about what love is. People keep saying, I gotta work at that, I gotta figure that out. That's not the problem. You have to walk by the Spirit, and as one fruit, love will be a part of those nine characteristics of that fruit. You won't be able to hide it. We keep saying, what Bev and I, my wife and I always talk about, you know, well, I was doing fine until... She never uses that phrase anymore, but I still do. Until what? You were doing fine, if all of a sudden you erupt over some little incident that took place. You were walking by the Spirit. And you're trying to blame it on me? Now, I can't bring that up at that moment. It doesn't really fit really well in this situation. But that's what I'm learning about myself. To start taking my tongue, that can be too quick sometimes, and want to lash out and blame other people instead of saying, I'm mad because of me. I'm upset. I'm out of line because of me. It has nothing to do with that. So walking by the Spirit produces a certain resilience? A certain which? Resilience. Resilience to? Emotion. Emotions is a whole different category. That's you. That'll also develop in your sanctification, to have your emotions under control. But love is not an emotion. Love is an act of the will. So when I'm saying yes to the Holy Spirit, I'm not grieving, I'm not quenching Him, then I walk by the Spirit. It will be produced in my life through Him, as I walk by the Spirit. Oh, I thought I heard different words. When something happens, and you're walking by the Spirit, you're more likely to handle it well? Yes. Okay, good. Thank you for clarifying that. Yes, if you're walking by the Spirit, those things are not going to catch you by surprise, as we sometimes want to say. You will have a proper response. Now, walking by the Spirit goes on every single moment of every single day. I mean, you can change instantaneously. You can all of a sudden say, well, I was walking by the Spirit, but you crossed the line. I'm done now. Flesh has to come in here and fix things. You know, that's what we tend to do. So, don't get me wrong, it's not a machine. It's a constant decision, a constant dependence on Him. But it doesn't cost me anything, except to allow Him to fill me as Ephesians 5 says. To allow Him to control me. That's the part I don't like. Because when He comes in and controls me, what does He do with my mouth? He bridles it. He shuts it down. It's like, well, I've got some things I need to say. No, no, no, no, no, those aren't appropriate right now. And so Jack, I don't know about you, but Jack is still figuring that out. And you'll hear me say less and less. By the time I die, when I'm dead, I'll be speechless, right? You'll know I have arrived. But you'll see it more and more under control as I yield more and more to him, more consistently. But that's what Paul is excited about with the Thessalonians. He loved to be around them. They were a stimulation to his spiritual walk. They were encouragement. They were a rebuke at times because of how they were living. Paul looked at it and goes, I didn't always do that. See, Paul had the same problem I had. Big mouth. Even though God gave us one mouth and two ears, these usually stay out of the way and too much talk. So Paul had a tendency to kind of flare up. take on Peter in Galatians 2, do some things that need to be done, but could have been done a little more gently, split off at Barnabas, some of the things that took place. And they come around. God's working on Paul, and so Peter can't sit over here and say, well, man, look at Paul, he's all messed up. Peter's always running around, he's always got his foot in his mouth, so, you know, there were other issues and problems that you're dealing with on a regular basis. I would appreciate it if somebody would check on her and make sure, thank you, Debbie. There may be a need, but this is where ushers are going to get to where you're going to be responding, watching for things, stepping up. That's OK. I'm not putting pressure on you. A number of people need to be available for that. But it's the picture here with the Thessalonians' goal. Paul has great anticipation. He says here, and again, he's kind of gone out of his way. He says, we're all the more eager. We are endeavoring earnestly. We are bent upon the idea of being with you. I could put this word, typically the word Paul uses here, which is kind of interesting, the word desire, is typically used in a negative way. Oftentimes you'll see this word translated lust. And we go, why is Paul using that word? He's using a strong term, but he's using it in a positive way. Paul in essence is saying, we are all more eager with great lust to see your face. It's kind of an interesting way to put that. Paul says, I'm craving. It's kind of like the Oreo cookies we always bring up or ice cream or chocolate or whatever it may be. In this case, Paul said, it's you that I'm craving. It's you that I just want to be with very dearly and very desperately. You know what that feels like when it comes to certain foods or activities or a nice warm shower after you've been backpacking or whatever it may be that draws you in. Paul is saying it about them and he says, what I desire is to see your face. Who's like that in your life? Who's like this when you're parted from them for a while, you can't wait to get back to them? your whole focus is on them. This to me is amazing. This is Paul the Apostle dearly loving people through the work of the Holy Spirit in his life and their life and drawing them together. This is what I look forward to. Although we will spend eternity on earth with Christ reigning. For those that die prior to the rapture, they will go to be with him in heaven. But the whole picture here is this reunion that will take place. We have no idea of what it's going to be like for the genuine believer to finally be set free. I know, I was just talking with God this week about some things He's going to strip away from me. And I don't mean physically. Some issues. Americans, remember we talked recently about Americans having this bubble around us? Don't get in my space. your bubble bumps up against my bubble. I saw somebody the other day, they were right in somebody's face, and I watched the person who wasn't doing the talking, or the moving, and the other person got right in their face, and they weren't budging. They weren't flinching, they were looking right at me, and I go, man, I'm impressed. You are comfortable with that. I'm looking forward to that day. I told you I was raised by a father who was not wanted initially and did not hug, didn't know how to pass on affection. We trained him. By the time he got older, he had changed a lot. But in the process, you're hugging a tree, and finally the tree's limbs start coming around you once in a while. And you see that, and I look forward to the day when we have a relationship with others where all that is stripped away. It won't even be the issue anymore. to be able to express in the fullness of our relationship what God wants it to be. Paul was like that. How did he do that? He's a type A. He's a Pharisee of the Pharisee. Jump, jump, jump, jump. Cotton dry. Mean guy. How did he get like this? What happened? I do allow questions and I allow comments. Just in case you're visiting and you don't know what's going on. Paul was changed by Christ. He turned him around on the road to Damascus. You saw the interaction there. And the process took place. And so Paul became a different person. There's hope for type A's. Right? Some of you laugh. It's only the type A's that are laughing. The type B's say they're hopeless. There's no way to help them. But this is what is going on here. Christ was the perfect balance of all of it at all times. And yet Paul, I see a man developing. and growing. And that's encouraging to me. And he wants to see their face. This is that face of a relationship that he said, I want to see your countenance. I want to look you in the eye. And then he explains a little bit about that. verse 18 when he says we wanted to come to you and he stresses I Paul more than once remember as he writes this letter in the very beginning there's Sylvanus who's also Silas and Timothy writing with him but Paul goes out of his way here to mention I wanted to come I have multiple times I made plans I'm a type a I got the triple a what it called the trip cryptic, or whatever they call it. It used to be called something else 40 years ago. And I had it all mapped out. I was ready to go. Some of you have vacation plans and some things set up. You know what it's like. Paul goes, I set it up and I laid it out before God and God said, no. At least he thought God was saying no. And he does it again. He lays it out. He's like, it's time. I've got to go back. These young believers are going to be struggling. I've got to get back to them. And God says, no. And again, at least he thought it was God saying no. And ultimately, it really was. Because when you look at the picture here, God was allowing Satan to do what? To hinder or to thwart his opportunity. That word there, the idea that he thwarted us, is the picture literally means to cut slash strike in. It's kind of the idea behind it. It's what you do in the forestry when you don't want somebody traveling down a road. Nowadays they drag up the whole road. They plow the whole thing from what I've seen. But there are times they used to throw a big mound of dirt up or they throw rocks up. This is a no trespassing area for vehicles. This is what Satan did to Paul. He impeded his path. He hindered it. He cut a trench across his path, or we call it a roadblock. Satan did it. What's the problem here? Paul doesn't have enough faith, right? If Paul had enough faith, he'd pray and have that roadblock removed and he'd be gone. He'd move on, right? No, because Paul tried again and again and again. He made repeated attempts to go see them. God's allowing Satan to interrupt his path. Why God's using that method, I don't know, but I think he uses it regularly, even though Satan can only be in one place at a time. So don't blame everything on the devil. Don't say the devil made me do it, because that isn't very accurate. But here Satan is thwarting Paul. He recognizes, ultimately, it may be demon, demonic activity. Something is getting in his way. This goes back into Daniel 10. Remember when he's praying? It took 21 days to get an answer to his prayer. Is Daniel praying there? And there's other locations like that. And so here's Paul acknowledging that Satan's stopping me. Why would Satan interrupt Paul's desire to get back to the Thessalonians? To stop the work. To do which? He didn't want any more Christians. Okay, he didn't want any more Christians. He knows what Paul does when he gets around those people. He also knows that Thessalonians are a little more vulnerable without him, right? Right. They're already having an effect. They're already loving one another. He encouraged them later to love one another even more. And all Paul's going to do is stimulate that to be even more effective, as you said. Okay, and some who haven't come to Christ yet, Paul would also share with them, as an apostle he had a unique role. The emphasis of a pastor-teacher is to focus on equipping the saints. The emphasis on an evangelist, in Ephesians 4.11, is to reach the unsaved. The apostle was a sent one. We see that in Titus, right Ben? Right in the beginning. He's a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He separates those out in his relationship. He's sent out by Jesus Christ. He never forgot his mission. He never forgot his responsibility, but he was doing both. He's leading people to Christ and he's building up the church. A unique role. The prophets would come in, they'd focus again more on the church itself. and speaking forth the word. So you have this responsibility and he says, I tried and I tried and I tried and Satan kept stopping me. So I'm writing you a letter. I'm encouraging you. Obviously God has it under control. Are you being discipled today? I don't mean an hour on Sunday mornings. Are you being discipled? I put guilt trips on people. If it's not your guilt chip, if you look at it, look for your name. See if your name's on the list. You know, the birthday list we just had. If it's not on there, forget about it. But if your name is on there, do something about it. But there are a lot of people who think, one hour a week, man, I've got a one hour charger on my spiritual battery. I come in, I plug into Jack, I listen for an hour, I go away. I'm good. What does God call that? Malnutrition. Do you understand that? Never intended for a Sunday morning message to be your sole supply of spiritual nourishment. He intended it every day. Jackson's going to be a little drop in the bucket for what you're taking in on a regular basis. You're going to learn so much more doing it yourself than just taking it in from me. So how are we doing? Are you discipling? That's one way to grow, as you prepare for another. Are you being discipled? Take it on Ben, we set up for the summer as an intern, the church has, and Ben and I meet most of the time, I think we've met pretty consistently, Tuesday through Fridays, to try to go through memory verses, spend a little bit of time in prayer together. That interrupts our schedules, doesn't it? Sometimes it's sleeping and we say it too late the night before. And I've had a couple of those lately. Sometimes it is a lot of pressing things to get done. Sometimes Jack talks too much because he's really good at that. But it interrupts. But when I look back on it, what Ben has done for me by doing that, he thinks it's an interruption. He's actually got more consistency into my time. He sits there and he has the audacity to correct me when I don't share the verses right. I'm shocked. And then, well, we won't get into all that. But we're interacting. You've got to have that going on. For sure in your marriage, to a certain degree, however that works. And we're all a little different in that. So I'm not trying to apply guilt trips. But you need others. You need someone that you're applying it to. Ask God for someone to disciple. As you are going and you're seeking to make disciples, ask God to give you the disciple. It should be a name. Or two or three. In Jesus' case, 12 of them. Or seven. Where are they? If it's not there, you're making yourself vulnerable to what Satan wants to do. You're going to be easily distracted and malnourished spiritually. Paul did not want them for that. He wanted to come to them. He wanted to build them up. He wanted to check on them to make sure they were okay. Satan did not want that. And he's not going to want you to get together. He doesn't want Ben and I getting together. It's the only reason I haven't memorized Titus yet. It's all Satan's fault. Right? No, just kidding. I'm not putting in enough time. But as we work through that, we still have about a month left, and we're going to try to finish that up. And then we have to have a review process. So if somebody wants to step in for Ben and ask me on Sundays to give you the verses, that'd be a good thing for me to do for the next 20 years. Because when I'm 80, I'll be perfect. I'll be all better, right? So here's Paul, sharing with them, he shares a desire, this is very personal, eager to see your face, can't wait to reconnect. And as I was mentioning there, too many people think an hour on Sundays is enough. That is never God's intention. So I don't want to neglect that. I want to make sure you understand that. If you're only doing an hour a week, you are being disobedient. The early church in Acts 2 meant daily. I couldn't do that. Why not? It comes down to one thing, because you don't desire it. Why not? Because I'm not taking my meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart. I'm not devoting myself to the apostle doctrine and to prayer. There's some things missing. And I'm not saying every day. I'm not talking about a meeting at a church building. I'm talking about relationships. We want to encourage you and we're starting to share this more. You find a way to get a Bible study going at your work. Do a 15-20 minute Bible study at lunchtime. Let people know you're doing it. Nobody shows up, pray. You'll be amazed at what God might do. Do it in your neighborhood. I don't know how to teach. I'm not a teacher. I'm not very good at it. Great. Pick a verse. Have them show up. Share the verse with them. Ask them, what does this verse mean? You'd be shocked. You'll go an hour. You'll go as long as Jack does in a sermon. Shocking. You can do things very simply. The world is not looking for Jack. I overwhelm people too often. I give them the dump truck load. Remember? They just want a spoonful. I'm learning to back off. I'm not learning it very fast, but I'm learning to back off. But you have the spoonful. You are designed to take that non-Christian or baby Christian and give them just the right amount. That's what God wants to do in Lapland. This is what I keep stressing, and I'll stress it until we get through 1 and 2 Corinthians. So he says in verse 19, he's going to give you a picture of his delight. He says, For who is our hope, or joy, or crown of exultation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming? For you are our glory and joy. That, again, is fascinating to me. I've quoted this for many years. This passage right here stands out in scripture. The Thessalonians were a very unique group of people, of believers. And Paul says, you are the ones. Our hope, our joy, our crown of exaltation. Paul says, I'm pouring myself into you, and you take everything I give you, and you use it in your lives, and you come back and you ask for more. What is wrong with that picture? Does that happen in school? Rarely. Does it happen with your kids? Hopefully less rarely, but it's not as common. Your children are going to kind of drift and be distracted and do immature things. This is not normal. But Paul says to them, who is our hope? Who is the expectation of our confidence? The expectation of this reunion, this positive ending of what's coming. Confident expectation. It's you. Testimony is you're demonstrating what we need to see. When I talk to people often in the world, I see religion. When I, if I ask them, have you ever made a personal decision regarding Christ? Sometimes they don't understand what that means. And you can say it a hundred ways. So I don't necessarily say it that way, but they'll say, well, I've gone to church. The most favorite one I've gotten from people is, well, I believe in God. Okay, do you believe in the Good Fairy? Do you believe in the Easter Bunny? Do you believe in Santa Claus? I don't know what that means to say I believe in God. When God used the term believe here, this confident expectation, He's focusing on something that dominates our lives. What I put my trust in, what I put my reliance upon, what I cling to in genuine faith stands out in my life. You cannot hide it from what's happening around me. Do you really know Him? Then the works will be obvious. Remember 1 John? Who's obvious there? The children of God in 1 John 3 and the children of the devil. are obvious. Verse 10 I think it is. Why is it so confusing today? Why is it we have so much trouble figuring out who's who? Because we've watered it down. We've slacked off. We've taken the minimal amount of responsibility. We give God one hour a week in fellowship. And don't ever expect me to share the gospel with somebody. I'm going to make mistakes. What's our excuses? There's people out there starving. I remember one guy I was sharing the gospel with, and it's been too long with too many people, but I was sharing the gospel with one guy, and I read through the basic invitation that had him come, and I said, would you like to do this? And he said, yes. And I kind of went, I looked back at him, and I go, wait, maybe you didn't understand what I just said. Nobody says yes the first time. So I repeated, I literally repeated the information to him, and I said, is this what you want to do? And he said, yes, right now. I've only trained you to ask the question. I don't know how to give birth. I don't know what to do with the umbilical cord and the various things that can happen when you're actually... God will take care of it. And he received Christ right there. I didn't do anything. You'll be shocked at what God will do through you when you simply tell them what Christ has done. He did what, two things? He died for your sins and arose from the dead. We know he died because they buried him. You don't bury live people. The burial has nothing to do with their salvation. It just proves that he really died. And then we know he arose because people saw him. There were appearances, a variety of appearances over a period of 40 days. 500 at one time typically do not have a hallucination in spite of what you're seeing and hearing these days about alien spaceships and all the rest of it. It was real. Touch me, Thomas. Eat with me, Peter. I prepared a fire for you, Peter. I'm not a ghost. I can walk through walls. I am God. They had a few more things to learn about Him, as we will throughout eternity. We think we're going to get there, go through the first training class. Okay, we're in. Now, where's all the fun? What are you for vacation around here? You know what the focus is going to be for eternity? It's God. And you know what it's going to be like? It's going to be like the most playful thing you've ever known, getting better every moment. That's who God is. You're never going to exhaust Him. You're never going to understand when I sing that song, Wonderful Merciful Savior. It's hard to sing that without getting choked up. I sing much better by myself. And then I can cry and start over again. God loves us. He's real. Hell is real. He's come to earth through the person of his son to reveal to us what we need and to pay our debt that we couldn't pay. The Thessalonians have the gospel shared with them and they said yes! Just like that! And Paul didn't do a double take because he's not like me. Great! And he took them on to the labor and delivery, and he took them on to the growing up process, and the two-year-old years, and the teen years, and then finally when they get to be about 30, and they have children of their own, they're coming back begging you to talk to them and give them information. Enjoy. But in the teen years, early 20s, they know everything. Okay, that's where Jack needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. Thessalonians were the perfect example. Not perfect people, but a great example. And he says, you're my hope. You demonstrate this. I look forward. You have set another example for me to remember of what's coming. This confident expectation. You're my joy. This is the obedient child, humanly speaking. The gladness, the rejoicing, the delight to Paul. Loved them. Couldn't wait to get to be with them. It just was a delight to be in their presence. Nothing like it's going to be to be in Christ's presence. I keep reminding you of that because of what he mentions here in a moment. But he says, you're also my crown of exaltation. He uses the word stefanos for crown there. What kind of crown is that? It's a victor's crown. It's not a royal crown. A diadem is the other word you'd use for that. This is stefanos. He says, you're my stefanos of exaltation. You're my victor's wreath. They put a wreath on you if you were the winner of the Olympic Games that come up here in another 12 days. They hang medals on, they do different things. There's not a whole lot of change. Paul says, what am I going to put on my head? What am I going to dangle from my chest? You! What does it say about Paul to have the Thessalonians show up? You did right, Paul. You opened your mouth. You lived a life that they could follow by example. You imitated Christ. They imitated you. You were obedient. Here's the reward. Here's what you've accomplished because of it. A lot of people say, well, I can't share in the gospel. Have you ever? Well, no. Then how do you know? Go make mistakes. That's what young parents do with their children, don't they? I didn't tell the doctor when Christy was born that, oh, you don't need to come in. In fact, can we cut the pay down if you'll stay home? I won't owe you as much. I'll take care of it. I didn't say I was ready, and one of the nurses didn't function too well, but most of them were fine. I didn't step in. I didn't know what I was doing. I was observing. Now, by the time I got to the second child, I cut the umbilical cord. What else do you need me to do here? I learned. Through six children, I learned a lot. And it keeps learning. They're all different. They reverse different. I'm dependent on God. And Paul is interacting with them, and they're excited about it. But Paul did what God said. He was allowed to be part of the process, although God was the great physician. The great healer that took care of the spiritual needs that they had. Paul was just one of the tools he picked up. Just like us. He wants us to be sharp. He wants us to be in the right place. Maybe he's type A, but I shouldn't pin that on God. He wants us to be available to Him. Clean vessels that He can use. And so we stay away from sin. We turn away from wrong responses with our mouths. We deal with some of that when we get out of line. And so here's Paul, excited about the Thessalonians, looking to the future of what's going to take place. And he says, is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus? What's Paul saying he's going to get when Christ shows up and the church is regathered? Stand up in the, what do they call those? Podium, the different levels. Paul's going to be standing up there and Christ's going to decorate him with the Thessalonians. That's kind of the picture he's laying out here. When's it going to happen? In the presence, there again, do not take that for granted when you see it in scripture. This is the idea right before, in front of, in the faith of God. Do you understand what he's saying? God in all his glory. Moses couldn't even do that. We will. Because of Christ. But he said in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming. What word does he use for coming here? There's four of them. When you look at an English translation of the New Testament, they'll use the coming, there's two that are far more common than the other two. But right here is parousia. This one not only means his arrival, but his presence with. If you go into your concordance and you look up this word or this verse here with that word in it, it will tell you that it's the old story I gave you about Aunt Mabel. If they told you that Aunt Mabel is, and I just lost the words as I'm trying to think about it, Erkamai, that Aunt Mabel's going to Erkamai, that means, well, maybe she's only passing through. You know, she's going to show up, but it doesn't say a whole lot. If he says Aunt Mabel's going to Perissia, you better clean house. You better prepare for a change of plans. Because Aunt Mabel likes to do a lot of things, and she wants you to be with her. That's the word here. It's the coming and presence with. This is where I will aggravate some people, but I will say it anyway. Yes, coming and staying. It literally means presence, and it's translated presence sometimes. But it's the coming and presence with. So Aunt Mabel's going to hang around for a while, if I were to use this word. She's not just showing up for a quickie visit, she's coming and staying. This is the word he uses, parousia is the word he uses in a variety of places, and often times, and I think almost always, there's a definite article in front of it, when it refers to Christ's return. If you put a definite article in front of it, it's called the coming. How many comings are there? This is where I'm not trying to upset anybody, but you go to scripture. I'm just a mouthpiece up here. You go to scripture. There is one coming. He's not coming for his church to be raptured, waiting seven years and coming back to deal out retribution to the earth. In fact, 2 Thessalonians, just to give you a passage, and I know I'm going to rerun out of time here. He's talking about the idea here of giving relief in 2 Thessalonians 1.7. And, in verse 8, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God. It's all the coming. It's all taking place at the same time. So see me to explain that further, because I'm not going to have time to explain it. I do not believe in a pre-tribulational rapture, to explain it clearly to you. I do not believe in a post-tribulational rapture. I do not believe in a mid-tribulational rapture. I do not believe in a partial rapture, and there's much other terms out there. I hold to what scripture I believe teaches is God taking us out of great tribulation prior to God's wrath being poured out. And so what I've done in my study of scripture is understood that the great tribulation is not God's wrath. The two different things, never used simultaneously, never used in the same passage, and when you go into the passages, I can't say a whole lot more than that, it's pretty clear, it's one thing. So the church is going to tribulate, the church has been tribulating for 2,000 years. In the world you shall have tribulation in John 16, 33. What the great or the mega-tribulation is, is worldwide. It is a tribulation to the point where it's not a local persecution of some group, like it is even today. It's going to be a worldwide persecution. That's the only difference. A tholipsis, a squeeze, and a pressing in of God's people. You notice in Revelation 12, when Satan comes, and also the person in the Antichrist in chapter 13, he goes after the nation of Israel. The earth opens up, swallows up this river, and we won't go into all that right now, that's on tape too if you want to listen to it. And he swallows up, and he can't get to Israel, so now he goes after who in verse 17? Those who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Who is that? And again, I don't have a lot of time to explain it. That's the Church. They're still here. The Church will go through the Great Tribulation. I know that's foreign to your ears. I went to Multnomah. I went to Dallas Seminary. I know what I was taught and I respect a lot of people. It doesn't fit Scripture. It's THE coming. Go check out every single time it shows up. I'm sorry for harping on that, but I have to. Too many visitors here today who will misunderstand what I'm saying. It's an arrival and a consequent presence with us. And so he says that's when you'll be, or you are our hope, present tense idea, but joy, crown of exultation. It's you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His arrival and His presence. When He finally comes here, it's you! We're always looking for pleasure. The keyword today, I watch for it all the time, are we going to have fun? That's what people ask all the time. Who cares? What's fun got to do with life? What's fun all about? Me. Fun is relative, isn't it? If you don't like an activity that somebody else does, they're having fun when they do it, and you're not. So in that sense, it's relative. Are you having fun? Right now? In the church service? Am I giving you a fun time? No! You're sitting for too long. You're listening for too long. You're trying to take in. You're already starting to think about all the things you have to do today. What's coming up this week? You're tired? This is why I don't want you to be. Spectators will like you to interact and ask questions. I'm sorry this series is not quite as interactive as others have been. But God is not interested in us having fun. Did Jesus have fun? Yes! Great joy! delighted his father in his crucifixion. How can that be? Because that's where the true joy comes from. It's in pleasing God. Not in whether or not I'm having a good time. If you come to church and your goal is to have fun, you'll never find it. And the minute somebody says something wrong or upsets you or doesn't meet your expectations, it's gone. And you'll say, just like Beth and I have said in the past, we don't say that anymore, do we? Well, I was doing fine until... It was a great church until... God came to build His Church through His Son. I love the Church. I would be here probably 24 hours a day if I wasn't married. I love God's people. I love God's Word. I love stimulating Bible studies. If you get into one with me, yes, you're going to have a debate. I love to debate. If I'm walking by the Spirit, I'll control my mouth. But this is what it's all about. I'm in preparation for something that's eternal. I'm not hanging on to planet Earth. And again, I don't know when to share this. I'm going to share it unless it comes out wrong. Just got a report Friday. My cancer's back. So they thought, they did the surgery and it wasn't all that bad. John's going through worse than I am, than I had to go through with the surgery he just had. In fact, it was not bad at all. But they just said, your PSA has taken off again. Well, I don't have a prostate. That's not a good sign. Listen. I'm not going to talk about dying because in reality it's probably going to take me a long time. And I'm praying that the rapture does take place. I'm watching a world that is coming unglued. I'm watching a world that God is allowing things to take place that never took place in my lifetime. Things that I would have said even 10 or 20 years ago. No way. No way that would ever happen. And it's turning around just like that. I'm expecting some pretty radical things to happen pretty quickly. Some already have, but I mean real radical. And I don't want to prophesy or guess what those might be. So here's this picture. You come in and God's saying, I'm just reminding you that you are human, fragile, dependent. Don't forget that. But that I'm going to die? Sorry, I respond that way. But it's like, I've told you all the same thing. Guess what? Apart from the rapture, That's not what it's all about. It's all about preparing for Christ's coming. It's all about building in or allowing Him to build into us Christ-likeness. It's being prepared. Is that what you're living for? If you're not, there's one of two reasons. You're either unsaved and you have no concept of what that's all about. Or as the Corinthians were in 1 Corinthians 3, you're carnal. You're fleshly. You're bathed in Christ. You've watered it down and you're getting the leftovers and the drapes and it does not satisfy if you're really saved. Miserable condition. Get back in a right relationship with God. Confess sin in your life. Get someone you're accountable to. Ask someone to check up with you on how you're doing. Set some goals about getting into the Word. I haven't asked you that for a long time. I should have asked you that Sunday. How's your Bible reading going? I forgot. It's just been too hectic here lately. This is Paul. Paul's going, I don't need to push you at all. Look at all you're doing. Look at the growth. You don't realize what that does for me. And that's what I tell you on a regular basis. You walk with God. That's it. That's all I need. That's my wife. I went home yesterday. Sorry. I told her something that somebody did. Made my day. And all I did was walk with God. That's what I'm here for. And if you all start doing that, then I know God said it's time for me to go. And I'll get the aggressive cancer that takes me out in a few days. That'd be great. Can I ask for the painless one too? No, I don't think that'll work. So here we are dealing with this. We're looking forward to these goals of what God has for us. It's not surprising that I'm going to die. That's why I keep stressing to you. And prostate cancer is one of the ones that takes forever. What are we living for? I'm not living for this life. Why don't you have the same thing? Why should Jack be any different? I'm not sad. You don't need to be sad. I see some of you reacting to what I said. I meant it for an illustration, not for an emotional response. Christ is coming back. I'm going to live with Him for eternity. I get a new body. It will be an improvement. A great improvement. It'll even have a better working mouth and brain to go with it. Although he's working on that right now on the inside. So here's Paul. He's talking about in the presence of the Lord Jesus coming, he says, for the reason, the gar he puts here, because you are the glory. He has a definite article in front of it in the Greek. You're the glory. And you're the joy. That's what I'm living for here. When you look at this word glory, it's the word doxa. Sometimes I like to translate it with the idea of credit. When you let your light shine before men, they'll see your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven. People think, well that means they're going to come to Christ. That's not what it's saying. They're going to give credit to your Father in heaven. They're going to recognize where that came from. Hopefully they get saved, but it's not a salvation verse in Matthew 5. And he's doing the same thing here. He says, you are the glory. You're the credit, the honor, and the joy for us. You're the fame, the renown, as he says, with glory. You're the joy, again, re-emphasizing within two verses, the delight, the gladness, the rejoicing. What was Paul's motivation in life? To present every man complete in Christ. What are you living for? Oh, you've got to work. You've got to earn money. You've got to provide for your family. You need to do some honey-do's. Really, it's biblical. You have a lot of things to do, but they're secondary. What motivates your heart? What drives you in your walk? It's Christ. It's Christlikeness. It's pleasing God. It's being in the center of His will. It's anticipating Him saying, well done, now good and faithful servant. That's what He wants to do. I'm not a super saint. You could ask my wife and my children if I gave you permission, but I won't. Some bad things would come out of that. But I'm growing and I'm learning. And when I focus properly, this is what I see. I see Christ. I see Him coming back in the coming. You'll see it again in 1 Thessalonians 4. Again, people think there's some kind of rapture that's taking place there. It's not. Let me give you an example in closing. Someone handed this to me this morning. The state of our country. The food stamp program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is actually proud of the fact that it is distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever. Yet, in contrast, and so meanwhile, the National Park Service administered by the U.S. Department of Interior asks us to, quote, please do not feed the animals. Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves. What are we doing in the church? If you are dependent on handouts from Jack, if you become a welfare recipient of my messages, you're emaciated and you're wasting away. You cannot live on Jack alone. That might even be a verse somewhere. You have to make a conscious decision to walk with Him. Do I need to put up a sign? Maybe I should hang it up on the podium. Do not feed the animal or put it on this side for me. I'm not trying to make you dependent on me. I'm trying to challenge you and motivate you to get serious with God. And if Him taking me away is part of that, that's part of why I share it. I got this last one and I get a second round. And they'll find out with some new hormonal treatment or some experimental thing and they'll come along and they'll fix me again and I'll go, you've got to stop doing that. You keep getting my hopes up and then you down spin. But I'll tell you one thing, if I could be a prophet and make a guess, I would tell you I think I'm going up in the rapture. How's that? For sticking my neck out. I could be wrong. I'm not a prophet. I don't have any picture of the future. But based on what I see going on in the world today, I think it's getting really close. Are you going to go up? Do you know Him personally? Is it evident in your life? Is it obvious that you're a child of God? Take the doubt away this week. Get into the Word. Spend time in prayer every day. In fact, do it without CC. That would be even better. Yes, you're going to have interruptions from work and family and, you know, those basic kind of things around there, but get serious with God. The days are approaching when they're going to take your Bible away. Do you even know the books, let alone what's in them? Come on in. Learn Titus with Venema. We'll move on to the next letter. Spend time on what's going to last for eternity. Especially people who need Christ. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful. Because that's the only thing we can be. You've done it all. We recognize that. We bow before you. We acknowledge the work that you're doing. We constantly, like Paul in Romans 7, to see things that come out of our flesh and we're shocked sometimes at what we're still capable of. It's not our nature anymore. You've taken that away. We were crucified with Christ. But it's still resonant in us. It's still something that we can yield to. Help us to not. Help us to love you with all of our hearts. Help us to consciously make decisions. To worship you as our merciful Savior. To turn away from sin. To run from immorality. Run from the internet pornography that's rampant. To not react when Satan thwarts us from doing things. To accept it as your will, but to pray for change. Help us, especially those here today, Father, who may not know you. That they would recognize that religion is worthless. That they need a personal relationship with you. Draw them to yourself. And help them to see that simply by putting their faith in your Son, to trust Him and Him alone for their salvation, they can have new life. And you'll take it from there. Thank you for the Thessalonians and their repentance. Thank you for Paul and his repentance. Thank you for leading me to repent and many others here. Now make it evident to a lost world around us, I pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.