It was 42 years ago, it was 1982, when John Stott wrote in his book, I Believe in Preaching, quote, it is difficult to imagine the world in the year AD 2000, by which time versatile microprocessors are likely to be as common as simple calculators are today. We should certainly welcome the fact that the silicon chip will transcend human brain power as the machine has transcended human muscle power. Much less welcome will be the probable reduction of human contact as the new electronic network renders personal relationships ever less necessary. In such a dehumanized society, the fellowship of the local church will become increasingly important. whose members meet one another and talk and listen to one another in person rather than on screen. In this human context of mutual love, the speaking and hearing of the word of God is also likely to become more necessary for the preservation of our humanness, not less. Grace and peace to you. In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, thanks for being here today to worship and study and learn and fellowship with us. Our text this morning will begin at 1 Thessalonians 2.17. But before we turn there to read, we're going to do a quick recap. And since warp speed is too slow and ludicrous speed just won't suffice, we're going straight to plaid. Only one laugh? No pop culture references? You got it, all right, good, all right. So Timothy rejoins Paul at Corinth during Paul's second missionary journey. Timothy gives him the report on the new church. Paul's so moved that he writes 1 Thessalonians. He writes 2 Thessalonians just a short time later. I told you I'm gonna fly through this part, okay? So he wrote it because he was run out of town before he wanted to leave, before he was ready to leave. And as we'll read here in a bit, although Satan hindered Paul's returns to Thessalonica, God uses that hindrance for good and to provide more than just a letter of encouragement. And this letter is meant to encourage and comfort the church. It's meant to defend Paul's ministry, his calling and conduct. to express joy of the church's faith, and to remind of the importance of moral purity, to exhort them to be hard workers, to correct prophetic timelines, to diffuse tension within the church, and to exhort them in the basics of Christian living. Most of that should be on that list, on that handout that you picked up. We are given examples of Paul as a preacher, a pastor, a tender and loving mother, and a responsible father. And so far we've seen how persecution of the church is a good thing for the church, in that it causes our roots to go down deeper into Christ, drives us to our knees in prayer, purifies and sanctifies us, it sifts the church, and strengthens our fellowship in love, our fellowship with and love for one another. And the converse of persecution being good for the church is that it is absolutely terrible for man. It's absolutely terrible for man to persecute the church. The cost for persecuting the church and hindering the spread of the gospel, the cost of keeping God from men and men from God is eternal hell. We've also learned what good preaching is and is not. We've given some how-to-be's, some exhortation towards Christian living. and we discussed at length what it is to be imitators of Christ, and briefly explored the tie between humility, love, and obedience as a product of our imitation, which leads us to be able to, as chapter two, verse 12 says, walk in a manner worthy. But the central theme of the letter is God's plan for His church. And every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ. And with that in mind, now please take your Bibles and turn to the end of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. We're gonna be at verse 17, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 17. And I've set a rather ambitious goal to get all the way through chapter 3 as well. So chapter 2, verse 17 through 3.13, and to save on time, We're gonna read it in segments as we come to them, instead of reading it all right now. And in a deviation from my previous efforts, I decided not to go with paper copy today. I'm going electronic, so this could be a whole new set of challenges. Hooray for stretching ourselves. So let's read the end of chapter two here. First Thessalonians chapter two, verse 17 through 20. But we brothers, having been taken away from you for a short while, in face but not in heart, we're all the more eager with great desire to see your face. For we wanted to come to you, I Paul, more than once, and yet Satan hindered us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy. Let's pray. Oh God, help us now. Soften hearts and open our ears to your word. We thank you for this morning. We thank you for these people here. Thank you for Providence Bible Church. We thank you for your providence in our lives. This morning, Lord, help us to study well. Help us to be attentive, to remember. and to apply your word to our lives so that we would walk worthy and you would be glorified. Amen. So verse 17, but we brothers, having been taken away from you for a short while in face, but not in heart. Not in heart, if you're using the LSB, not in heart. is not in spirit in the NASB. And the phrase is literally in presence, not in heart. So it brought up a good question in my mind. Do I eagerly desire Christian fellowship like this? I should. Those we love, we desire to see and be with. Of this verse, verse 17, Dr. Jack Hughes says, there may be times when God, by his good providence, separates us from those we love, yet even if physically separated from believers on earth, we can be present in spirit and look forward to being together in glory. We are united to other believers in spirit. This is your takeaway for this verse. We are united to other believers in spirit through Christ. And this is just one more reason to be praying for your church. Look at 18. You get to 18, the end of it, I found this statement a little bit interesting, and yet Satan hindered us. For we wanted to come to you, I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan hindered us. So the first thing I asked was, how does Satan hinder Paul? Well, remembering that Satan is the prince of the power of the air and is the spirit that is now working or energizing the sons of disobedience, which is all unbelievers. It is possible that Satan energized some of his children to somehow impede Paul's journey. But beyond that, one can't really speculate. But the main point is that Satan can and does hinder legitimate Christian work and workers. He always opposes the gospel and Christian fellowship. He did it effectively in the past, and he's undoubtedly being successful in doing it today. However, gotta really ask, was he really successful in his thwarting of Paul? And that answer is no. Because even though Satan meant it for evil, God meant it for good, and God used it. God used it for inspiring Paul to write this precious letter to the Thessalonians. And then furthermore, Paul was able to send Timothy so that Timothy could do some training and Timothy could do some ministering. The other question that arises is how are believers, how are you and me today, how are we to discern whether the hindrance is from God or from Satan? Clearly Paul knew that this hindrance was from Satan, so how are we supposed to know? We know that Paul was hindered in his missionary journey by the Spirit. Look at Luke, well, no, look at Acts, what Luke wrote in Acts, Acts 16, and they, I'll just read it real quick, you don't have to turn there yet, and they, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, passed through the Fergan and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Interesting. Seven, and when they had come to Mesia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. And in his epistle to the Romans, Paul twice mentions his unsuccessful attempts to go to Rome, Romans 1.13 and Romans 15.22. So how do we know when the source that we face, how do we know the source when we face a hindrance? I hate to tell you this, but you're kind of gonna have to figure it out for yourself, but. If you've ever experienced a frustrating time in your own life when again and again you tried to do something you absolutely 100% knew was correct and you found it hard going, you met opposition and hindrance, perhaps even from your own family, it could be a sign of satanic hindrance. Just simple example, right? It's time to do Bible study. It's time to do Bible study, but all at the same time the phone rings, the group chat starts pinging you. And then the kids decide now's the time to go play WWE on the stairs, right? The dog goes and chases the coyote and then your husband comes in because he just crashed the car into the garage door. I mean, it's a bit far-fetched and manufactured, but maybe. The real point is discernment. You have to use the proper amount of discernment when trying to assess the hindrance. It could just be a matter of you being obedient or you seeking your own interests or pursuing something with incorrect motives. So be in constant prayer when you are facing a hindrance to discern the source and what your next step should be. Moving on, already in this chapter we have seen three sources of opposition to the apostle, speaking of opposition still. Opposition from the state, we saw that in verse two. We saw opposition from society, we saw that in verse 14. And then now we've seen opposition from Satan here in verse 18. And while this might look like three different enemies, it really only is one. Other scriptures indicate that the state and society are often the channels of the devil's attempts to hinder the spread of the gospel, of the good word of God. And that's what Paul was encountering here. And then finally, verses 19 and 20. Remember that every chapter in First Thessalonians ends with a reference to the coming of Christ. And here, Paul is proud to tell them that they will be a great wedding gift to Jesus when he comes back for them and for us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy. We talked last week about the word for. We have it here. It's a term of explanation. Remember last week we said that when you see that, you should ask one of the who, what, when, where, why, how questions just to see what's happening in the text, what it's explaining or who it's explaining something about. And we said that you can usually substitute the word because, and it makes good sense. So that example here is, because who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting? So anyway, looking at the context, the content of 19 and 20, you might remember previous studies in Philippians. Paul recorded a similar description of his beloved brethren there. So turn with me, go to Philippians 4.1. Philippians 4.1, therefore my brothers, loved and longed for, my joy and crown. In this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. And then one more flip over to Philippians 2. Flip back, I guess, Philippians 2. 16 and 17, holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain or toil in vain. So what we're seeing here is that his glory and joy, and his joy and his crown are saved souls. That's the point of his ministry. That's his motivation for his actions. Saved souls. It's the humility to love and obey the commands of Jesus that produces heavenly rewards. Paul recognizes that, and I think it's Telling that in a day when there's so much emphasis on acquiring material wealth, I find this passage, I find these passages and Paul's attitude on it extremely refreshing. To hear of Christians whose greatest reward is to see people accept Christ and grow in spiritual maturity and then one day see them again in glory. Wiersbe comments that Paul did not look back and give in to regret and remorse. Instead, he looked ahead and rejoiced. For the Christian, the best is yet to come. Paul looked ahead by faith and saw his friends in the presence of Jesus Christ in glory. And he knew that Jesus Christ would return and reward him for his faithful ministry. And on that day, the saints from Thessalonica would bring glory to God and joy to Paul's heart. And the fact that we shall one day stand at the judgment seat of Christ ought to motivate us to be faithful in spite of difficulties. At the judgment seat of Christ, our works will be judged and rewards will be given. MacArthur says, a great part of heaven's bliss for the redeemed will be the joyful presence of those whom they have been used to reach. The faithfulness of the believer's witness will determine one's eternal capacity to reflect God's glory. Daniel 12.3 says it this way, those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. So I think we got to ask ourselves, are we making it a practice to share the gospel with others? And if we are, we'll be regarded with the best reward of all. You'll enjoy thrilling satisfaction here on earth. and you can look forward to seeing them again in heaven with even greater reward. Well, that was how we were supposed to end chapter two last week, so now we're gonna move on to chapter three. Now I have chapter three broken down into three sections, and that should be on that third page of your handout there. I got it in three sections. Verses one through five, affliction and absence from fellowship, verses six through 10, the encouragement of fellowship, and then 11 and 13 is a pastoral prayer for continued and deeper fellowship, and more than that, but was trying to go with the theme of fellowship here, so. Let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians chapter three, verses one through five. Therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we were pleased to be left behind at Athens alone, And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, just as it happened and as you know. For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also send to know about your faith, lest somehow the tempter has tempted you, and our labor be in vain. Big section. So let's just go word by word or phrase by phrase through this section. The first word we come to is therefore, and then of course we know that when you see therefore, you should stop and ask what is the therefore there for? And in this case, it's the preceding context. And we know the fact and the reasons why they are no longer among them. We know why Paul's writing this. We know why he's afflicted. He's afflicted because he's not there. He was afflicted by the public. We know all that. And so here he says, when we couldn't do it no longer, we're going to come back to that. But put a note there, because he says it again later. And then we. Athens, alone, thought he wrote this letter from Corinth. Well, he did write it from Corinth, but he got left in Athens. And while they're in Athens, Paul and Silas stayed there, and they dispatched Timothy. So that's verse two there. And we sent Timothy. So Timothy gets dispatched for an assignment. And I assume, I didn't look into this, and I thought about it last night after everything was written. We'll have to save this for another day, but I assume they told Timothy, Hey, come find us in Corinth later. I'll have to look into that. But, who is Timothy and why did he get sent? We get some insights about him here. The text tells us that he is our brother. And the text also tells us that he is God's fellow worker. Then, as you continue through the verse, you get the reason why this brother and fellow worker was sent. He was sent to strengthen their faith and encourage their faith. Sometimes the simplest answers to reading the text are the Sunday school answers, and all it takes is just a little bit more careful reading. And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, not just a fellow worker, but a fellow worker in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith. Oh, to what end? So that no one, not any one of you, would be shaken by these afflictions. That's the purpose, that this fledgling church would not be discouraged by Paul's sufferings. but also a reminder that faith perseveres and it's also our destiny to suffer afflictions. And we know that suffering for Christ is part of the Christian life. Suffering in life is part of the Christian life, right? Because what should we long for? We long for heaven. We know that in heaven there is no suffering. For the Thessalonians, though, the implication is that they were not strong and that they lacked courage, or at least that Paul was unsure of their strength and unsure of their courage, and that's only until Timothy comes back with the report card and tells them all the good things. Verse five, verse five, for this reason, okay, for what reason? This is where I said we'd come back to it. Sorry, technology, I knew this would happen. For when I could endure it no longer. There it is again, that's when I said we'd come back. So that phrase is used twice, verse one and verse five. But it is the same reason, he's talking about the same thing. Paul's just beside himself wondering about how this new church is doing. He had such a longing and desire to be with them, at the very least he just needed the information, he needed the intel, he wanted to know how his people were doing. Shows a pastor's heart. He's basically like, I can't take it anymore. Can't take it anymore, go find out. Go find out what's up with those guys. He could no longer tolerate the distance from his spiritual children and the lack of knowledge about their condition. It's not like they had Facebook and text messages and all that other stuff, right? And reading just a bit further in our verse now, we have a third reason that Timothy was sent. And it's because Paul also wanted to know about their faith. So not only just wanted the info, but he wanted to know about their faith. He wanted to know if they were standing strong, if they had fallen to the tempter in fear or persecution. And he wanted to know if he did all that work for nothing. So in this top section here, in this one through five, in that top section under your handout, you got four takeaways. And you can write these in those blank spots on your handouts. I'll take this part a little bit slower. So four takeaways for us today. Four takeaways for us today. Believers in this world today. First of all, long to be with believers. Long and desire Christian fellowship. Long for and desire Christian fellowship. Long for Christian fellowship. Number two, when you are with believers, minister to them. Encourage them. This goes back to something we say a lot. Love and encourage one another. When you're with each other, don't just talk about the weather. Don't just talk about sports. Have spiritual conversations. Minister to each other. Encourage each other. And not only you do it, pointing at myself here, but have faithful workers encourage the saints. So this one and my next comment, I'm kind of looking at all the D group leaders a little bit, but it applies to everybody. So not only you do it, but have faithful workers encourage the saints. And when you have faithful workers catching up on the saints, checking up on the saints, checking up on each other, you're encouraging them in their ministry to other people. And you're encouraging them to love and good deeds. And you're advancing the ball, as it were, of the gospel. So that was affliction and absence from fellowship. And now we're gonna look at six through 10. We're calling this the encouragement of fellowship. And this is how the faithful can encourage us. We just talked about being encouragers, now we're going to talk about how we can be encouragers. Verse six, but now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your faith, and love, and that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you. For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we were comforted about you through your faith. For now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God because of you? as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete what is lacking in your faith. Oh, look, Tim's back. Tim's back already. He showed up. He brought back some really encouraging news. And then the verse tells us what this really encouraging news is. So just look at that verse. And I didn't write these on your sheet. Left you guys a little bit of homework here. So you can write these. this list on your sheet there, but these are the things that Timothy came back with, and it's quite a list. Text says that he came with good news of their faith, and then right after that, he came with good news of their love, and that you always remember us kindly. Oh, so sweet. And that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you. So the good news there that he brought back was that they're kind memories of Paul and Silas and Timothy. And then keep going in the verse. Good news of their desire for fellowship. Oh look, they wanna hang out with us. And the for this reason in seven, verse seven, is Timothy's return and report. So you have this for this reason right there in the middle, and that points you back up to six. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and then seven for this reason, you're like, oh, for what reason? Look back up at six, that tells you the reason. And then we got a couple more good news pieces here in seven. So there was good news that eased, the good news eased Paul's distress. The good news also eased Paul's affliction in all our distress and affliction. Oh, he's got distress and affliction. That sounds great. But he was comforted. We were comforted. So the good news of their strength of faith brought comfort to Paul. And then there was also the good news of their standing firm in the Lord. We were comforted about you through your faith. for now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. So good news of their standing firm in the Lord. And that is the crown jewel of good news for Paul. This was the same great joy exuded back at the end of chapter two to see that his efforts were not in vain and to see these believers thriving and standing firm in the Lord was the cause of all this pure joy, this overwhelming joy in Paul. I mean, he even says it there. He says, we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. The guy's ready to run through a brick wall. He's so happy. And then he goes on to tell us, how can I even be so thankful? How can I be so thankful for all of this? He can't express it. He can't express his thankfulness for God for what He did. Look, for what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God because of you, which also means on your account. All of this good news was just such a blessing to Paul. causing a complete overabundance of joy. It moved him to give thanks to God for them in return for being blessed. For joy received before God on their account to the point where he prays night and day, prays night and day to get back to him, right? Verse 10, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete, interesting, what is lacking, okay, they're not there yet, in your faith. Paul and Silas and Timothy prayed night and day to be able to visit their friends and see them again, so as to not only see them, see their faces, to show his personal love and fellowship, friendship, brotherhood, but they also wanna go back to preach and teach to build up their faith. That's awesome. It's like a great trifecta. So let's cruise right along here. We're gonna move right into verses 11 and 13. And in our final section, we have a pastoral prayer for continued and deeper fellowship, and like I said, it is a pastoral prayer for also so much more. This prayer is also a doxology, and it shows us who directs our steps, who sanctifies us, and who gives us the ability to be humble. It shows us who gives us the capacity to love, not only our church, but other believers in the lost as well. So let's read, verse 11. May our God and Father himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you. so that he may strengthen your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. I got three segments for this section, three segments for three verses. Sorry, actually these three segments are just for verse 11. Got a little ahead of myself there, but. Let's look at verse 11. Now may our God and may our Father himself and Jesus our Lord do what? Direct our way to you. So Paul's prayer here is that God the Father and the Lord Jesus would let them go back to Thessalonica. Paul's love for his flock is a good imitation of Christ for his flock. It's not a perfect imitation, but still a good one, and a lesson for us in how to imitate. Look at verse 12. And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people, just as we also do for you. And, so, and, So it's not just those other things. And may the Lord, A, cause you to increase in love, and B, cause you to abound in love. Increase and abound. And the idea here is that their love be enlarged and made abundant. And these words taken together means to increase to overflowing. So much love that you can't contain it. In Paul's second letter to the Thessalonian church, we see his thanksgiving to God for having answered this prayer request. So flip over there real quick. Second Thessalonians 1.3. Just be a page or two. 2 Thessalonians 1.3, grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I have my reference wrong? 1.3, no, I started in 2. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is only fitting because your faith is growing abundantly. and the love of each one of you all toward one another increases all the more, so that we ourselves boast about you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure." So we know that God answered that prayer. We know that God made them abound even love, abound even more, and increase even more in their love for each other, for other churches, and for the world, for the sinners. So clearly, they're not a loveless church, but they were new believers, and obviously not yet glorified, and therefore still had some room to grow, which is, as we know, the essential mark of the Christian faith. to grow in love. Our Lord declared in John 13, 34, and 35, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And by this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And so it's not surprising that Paul prayed for increasing love for other churches, We already looked at the Philippians church, but we're gonna go there again. So we're gonna look at Philippians 1, 9 through 10. 9 and 10, Philippians 1, 9 and 10. Yeah, it's no surprise that Paul prayed for increasing love for other churches. Philippians 1, 9 and 10. In this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless, mark that, until the day of Christ. So back to chapter three, verse 12, cause you to increase in love and cause you to abound in love for one another. So that's the love for believers and for all people, and that's love for unbelievers, just as we also do for you. And that's an example. That's Paul setting the example. It's love exemplified by Paul and Silas that we are to imitate. We need to be praying for increasing, super abounding love. What if we began to seriously, consistently pray for love to increase and abound for each of the members of our congregation? The devil's gonna fight that suggestion. Speaking of hindrances, that's where, there's one right there, he's gonna hinder you for. trying to do that. He knows that a church unifying and praying and coming into oneness and love is a mighty instrument in the hand of an almighty God, so he's gonna fight that. Do it anyway. Pray earnestly. Pray daily and by name for the spiritual needs of your church. And pray expectantly and watch what the Lord does. Verse 13. so that he may strengthen your hearts, blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. So that he, who? The Lord. It's the same Lord who sanctified them that sanctifies us. The one in whom they believed in, we believe upon for salvation. From what? From God's wrath. That Lord. The one we say we love. The one that because we love, we keep his commands. That Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who caused them to grow in love and likewise causes us to grow in love. He's eternal. and he is the one who causes us to abound in love. He was for them, he is for us. 2,024 years or not. Christ is the one who gives us the perfect example of perfect love, and he's the reason why they continued despite opposition and persecution. And he's the reason why we continue in faith through the droughts and storms of life. As he was to them, he is to us our source of joy at the sight of our church family. Why? So that he may establish. And that word there is interesting. Some versions say establish, some versions say strengthen. The word is sterizzo. Thayer's defines that as to make stable, to place firmly, set fast, fix, to strengthen, to make firm, to render constant, so that he may establish or strengthen your hearts. How? How does God establish or strengthen or stabilize our hearts? Might have to go a little bit fast here, so get ready. Other New Testament uses of state ritzo teach that God uses several means to exert a stabilizing effect on our faith. Bible drill time. First, he does it by the Lord himself. The Lord himself is our strength and protector. Real quick, 2 Thessalonians 3.3. Second Thessalonians 3.3, but the Lord is faithful who will strengthen and guard you from the evil one. So the Lord himself will provide strength and protection. Second way is by looking and living for the Lord's return. We look and we live for the Lord's return. Look at James 5.8. James 5.8. You too, be patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. There's also an implication in there that we have the ability and the desire, because of Christ, to strengthen our hearts. So he tells us we can strengthen our hearts. Our hearts aren't strong? Strengthen your heart, because the Lord is coming. Third, by the God of all grace working through suffering, 1 Peter 5.10. And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Fourth, by the truth of God's word. We were just in 1 Peter, now we're in 2 Peter, 2 Peter 1.12. Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established, stay rid so, in the truth which is present with you. Fifth way is by revealing the mystery of the gospel. For this one we go to Romans 16.25. Now to him who is able to establish, Stavridso, you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. So by the Lord himself, by looking and living for the Lord's return, by God working through suffering, by the truth of the scripture and revealing the mystery of the gospel. And then the sixth one is through ministry partners, by the strengthening ministry of his saints who come alongside. So think here, pastors, counselors, D group leaders, or as we talked about a couple weeks ago, a couple months ago now, your spiritual mentors. So those people are provided by God to strengthen your hearts. And for example, we're gonna pull three examples here. Luke 22, 31 and 32, this is Peter. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sip you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail in you when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. First Thessalonians 3.2 showed us Timothy. What was one of Timothy's missions? To strengthen and encourage them as to their faith. And then of course Paul. Look at Romans 1, Romans 1.11. For I long to see you, this is his letter to the Romans, for I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, and that you may be established. So, all that to say, although it's God himself who ultimately strengthens and stabilizes us, these other New Testament uses of that word, ste ridzo, teaches that God uses the encouragement and prayers of the saints, the certainty of Christ's return, the truth of his word, and the gospel, to supernaturally exert a stabilizing effect on our faith. And so the result is that we be established in two ways. If we look back at our text, 1 Thess 3, 13, the result is that we be established in two ways. One, without blame. and two, in holiness. If you put them together, without blame in holiness or blameless in holiness. Lord Jesus sanctifies us so that we can be found pleasing to God. Blameless in holiness before our God and Father. We're blameless because we've been made holy by Christ, because of Christ. And he can present us to the Father. But we have to be holy because the Father is holy. And the only way for us to become holy is through Christ. At the end of our text here this morning, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints, Jesus will return in glory with those he with those he paid for, for the rest of us still here whom he also paid for. He's gonna come get us and take us home. John 14 to, John 14 to, in my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I wouldn't have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may also be, or there you may be also. Ultimate in fellowship. I feel a little bit extra blessed this week to have two passages in the same week that are great ways to end a Sunday school lesson. The first is what we opened with, chapter two, 19 and 20. We've got the love in Christian fellowship, the joys in faithfully sharing the word of God so that souls are saved, and the hope that we have in seeing our own crowns of boasting in heaven someday as fruit of our own labor and presenting them to Jesus. And we have the eternal fellowship all because someone was obedient and faithful in preaching the gospel. Somebody preached and told you the gospel, and now you just gotta do it. You gotta do it too. And then we can close out chapter three, verse 12, and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we do for you, so that he may strengthen your hearts blameless, establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the saints. Providence, providence. May our Father in heaven grant you all here this morning amazing grace by the Spirit to be energized and motivated to humility, to an overflowing abundance of love that serves one another, to obey the Lord's commands, to tell people of the gospel, to be in fellowship together, and to be useful to God for the winning of souls so that One day in heaven, you see the fruits of your labor standing there. Saved souls in the presence of the lamb, who alone is worthy? Father, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for your word, the Holy Spirit, who's our helper. We pray that you would help us to increase and abound in love for one another, for your church, and for all people to the extent that we get to share the gospel with those you put in our paths. Save them so that one day we will see them and rejoice in giving you the glory for the fruits of our labor. Help us to be a church who, when separated from each other, long for the Lord's day so as to be in faithful fellowship your saints who look forward to worshiping together with much eager anticipation because that in that fellowship, it's not just fellowship with each other, but fellowship with you. Prepare our hearts as we head into the next hour. Teach us and conform us for our good and your glory. Amen.