this morning to second Thessalonians. It's been about a year since we embarked on studying the epistle written by Paul to the Thessalonian believers in that church in Thessalonica, that Greek city, which is still one of the largest and most prominent cities in Greece. And I think Stephen was able to go there last year, right? Thessalonica. How do they pronounce that? OK, all right. I was wondering about that because I see the N.I.K. and I didn't know if that was pronounced differently, but it's a real place. And back then it was a real church. And even today there's a real church and there's probably several real churches there in Thessalonica. And this letter was not just written to them. It was written to us as well. And so this morning. We're going to come to the book of 2 Thessalonians and what I'd like to do is take a step back and before we get into the nitty gritty of this book and this particular letter, I'd like to take a step back and see the overall theme and an overall picture of what this letter is all about. And as we do so, we'll be able to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together over the course of the next several months as we get into this letter. This is one of the smallest letters of the New Testament and certainly the smallest that the Apostle Paul wrote. He was a man that wrote quite extensively. But this is one of his smaller letters and it probably won't take us as long. But it's important for us to get a good picture of what this letter is about before we get into the details of it. Have you ever been misunderstood? You know, a lot of the problems that we have in our families and even in our church comes from one thing. And that's not a lack of love, but a lack of understanding of what someone is trying to teach or say to another. How many times have we experienced problems in our families with our spouse because of a misunderstanding? I said something some way and they took it in a totally different way than what I intended. It wasn't intended in a way that was difficult or upsetting, but it was taken that way. And sometimes we get beside ourselves and we say, It is so easy for us to get problems and conflicts because of misunderstandings, especially in the church. It's probably the biggest creator of problems. And that's why it is important for us to learn how to effectively communicate what we're thinking and what we're feeling to others so that they, from their own particular perspective, can understand it in the same way. Now, we just finished the first Thessalonian letter. This was written to a young church, planted by the Apostle Paul himself. And it was probably not more than a year earlier after he wrote this letter. And he wrote that letter, just by way of review, to encourage that church, because they were facing a lot of affliction, and even persecution from people that were religious, the Jews. They claim to believe in God and yet they were persecuting the ones that were trying to please God. And so Paul was saying, I want to encourage you through this to persevere and to be faithful and to stick it through. And he said, He was giving one of the greatest encouragements and one of the greatest comforts to them was about the return of Jesus Christ. And if you remember, just about at the end of every chapter, chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, and chapter 5, at the end of every chapter, Paul brings out some facet of the doctrine of the return of Jesus Christ. And this was meant to be an encouragement to them through the persecution that they were facing and the difficulties and the dangers. Well, after he wrote that letter, probably just a few months after he wrote Thessalonians, Paul heard how those Christians were doing. I'm sure after he wrote that letter, he was curious to find out how they would respond to his letter. And so over the course of time, over a few months, I'm sure that there were some representatives from that church or perhaps some people that would go, Christians that would go there for business, and they came to Corinth and they were telling Paul what was going on in that church. Much like when we have visitors or we send people out and they go on vacations, they come back and they share what the Lord is doing in these other churches. And I would imagine that's probably what happened to Paul. Well, Paul found out what was going on in the Thessalonian church after he wrote his first letter. Now, there were some things that were positive, that he was encouraged about, that he was excited about. There were some places and areas in their lives that that church was just growing and bursting at the seams. Some other things that he heard were negative. There were some other things that he needed to further address. And that is why we come to a second Ethessal to the Thessalonians. And the things that were negative were especially concerning what Paul had taught them about the return of Jesus Christ. Now, we spent some time looking at that book and looking at the return of Christ and that doctrine. And we were able to look at other passages and cross and compare, compare Scripture with other Scripture. And we were able to look at other books in the New Testament and even other books in the Old Testament to really get a good grasp, a good grip on what he was trying to teach. The Thessalonians weren't in that same position. They didn't have the books like we have of the entire canon, the entire New Testament, and the entire Bible that they could cross and compare and remember what Paul was teaching. So they probably were misunderstanding some of the things that Paul was teaching about the second coming of Jesus Christ. There was some real misunderstanding about that important doctrine, and that created, as we will explore, some serious issues within the church. And so, because Paul's teaching in many ways was misunderstood about the second coming, Paul had to write a second letter. And in this letter, he compliments them about the positive aspects of their church and their growth, but then he also challenges them as brothers in Christ about those negative areas, those areas that need to be fuller, more fully developed. And so when we come to this particular epistle, What is the essential meaning of this book? What is the essential understanding and message of this? And I believe we find the key verses to understanding the entire message of 2 Thessalonians in chapter 1, verse 11-12. I'd like to read this. Because overall, Paul is praying for these people in this church. He has said that many times in 1 Thessalonians. His prayer was with them constantly. He was praying for their growth. He was praying for their security. But look what else he is praying for. Wherefore also we pray always for you. That is him persevering in prayer for these Christians. Wherefore also we pray always for you that our God would count you, those Thessalonian Christians, worthy of his calling and to fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power." He was praying that God would continue to do a tremendous spiritual work of change in their lives. He was praying that they would continue to grow to the point where they would be worthy of the calling that God had given them. Now, none of us will probably ever get to the point where we say that I'm worthy of the calling that God gave me and calling me out of sin, because none of us ever will be. until we reach heaven. There will come a point where we are perfected, we are sanctified, we are glorified. But now, it is God that continues to do His work so that we become more worthy than we were before He saved us. He's praying that God would fulfill. God, who is in control of our lives, He will fulfill the good pleasure of His goodness and to work in us faith with power. And then he continues on in verse 12. So that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be glorified in you and you would be glorified in him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. These two verses encapsulate for us the message of this second letter to the Thessalonians. Basically, Paul is saying, I am praying and I am writing this letter so that you would become a more fully developed disciple of Jesus Christ. There are some things that are great in your life, Christians, but then there are some things that you're struggling with. There are some areas that you need to grow in. And so I'm going to talk about the positive and the negative, and I'm going to pray that God will continue to do His work in your life so that you will become spiritually mature, so that you will become a more fully developed disciple of Jesus Christ. Sometimes We know that there are areas in our life that we are lacking spiritually, don't we? I mean, perhaps this week, just take seven days, this last seven days, and we think about, well, I didn't pray as much or as often as I should have, or about the things that I needed to pray for. I didn't read the Word of God or study the Word of God as I should have. Things got busy. I had to go work on the trees that fell down in my yard, and so I didn't get to spend the time with the Lord like I should have. But I did get to go to prayer meeting this Wednesday, and I was able to share my faith with someone at the grocery store. So we see that there were some positives, and yet there were some negatives. There were some strengths, and there were some weaknesses. And we all realize that we need to be more mature. There needs to be a continual development in our spiritual walk with God. And that is what Paul and God is desiring to do through this letter. We need to be fully developed disciples, not just one area, not just two area, but in all areas, in all aspects of our lives, not leaving anything undone. We need to be completely developed in every area to be sure that we can continue to grow and increase and not to slip in any area. So how can you and I and how could they become fully developed disciples? Well, we see four dimensions throughout this letter, and these dimensions are areas in our life that we need to develop in in order to be this fully developed disciple. I was a youth pastor at a church in Illinois, and the senior pastor, he developed a series called the 3D Disciple. And of course, you know what three-dimensional pictures are like. It's as if they come right out at you, right? Some of our kids, they enjoy wearing those 3D glasses. I know the IMAX has a 3D film that you can go look at where things are just jumping out at you. It's really realistic. That's what they mean by something that is three-dimensional. And unfortunately, I'm not able to see things three-dimensionally. I have a lazy eye and I put on those glasses with the red and the blue or the green or whatever and I don't see the attraction because nothing really pops out at me. I'm seeing everything in red because that's the eye that works. And I'm not able to appreciate that three-dimensional figure. But I remember when I was in college, one of my teachers was talking about, in math, a fourth dimension. and how there are certain mathematicians that could look at a corner, a three-dimensional corner, and they see one line, two lines, three lines, they see that, and somehow, in some way, in a mathematical theory, maybe Ron, you can do this, they could see a fourth dimension in that. And that just boggled my mind. Because if three-dimensional is a full picture, how much more fuller would a fourth dimension add to that picture? We're seeing a change in some of the technology of watching TV and movies, right? Before we had just analog, where we had to have those rabbit ears on our television and those signals would come in and it would infiltrate that television and we would be able to see it. And we could see it all depending on how strong that signal came in. If it was a weak signal, if we had a lot of interference in the atmosphere, we would get grainy, fuzzy pictures. But now you can hook a cable up and get digital pictures, right? And these digital pictures come in very clear and very powerful. And even now they have the high definition where it's even more specific and more clear. So we have a first generation, a second generation, a third generation. What are they going to come up with in the fourth generation? Is it going to be a television where we can not only see, but we can feel and we can smell? and we can do all these things, maybe there's that fourth dimension where it's going to be a fuller understanding of what is going on on those TV screens. And I think that is what the Lord is trying to teach us, is that in order to be a fully developed disciple, there's not just one area, there's not just two areas, there's not just three areas, But there's four dimensions of your spiritual life that you need to cultivate, that you need to develop in order to continue following after him. It is not good enough for us to just do and concentrate on one or two things and leave the other things undone. We will not be fully developed according to him. We need to be assessing each of these dimensions as we look at them this morning, but also seek to grow in each one. The first dimension that we see in this letter is the character of your faith. You and I, in this first dimension, need to grow in the very character of our faith. And in this particular letter, this was an area that the Thessalonians were doing well in. They were growing in the character of their faith. So Paul commends the Christians because of that character. He is focusing on that positive. And a lot of times it's good to do that when you're entering into some sort of communication, to focus on the positive and get people encouraged and strengthened before you start focusing on the areas of weakness and the areas that they need to work on. And so Paul commends the Christians in Thessalonica in the second letter because of the character of their faith. There were some areas of their life and walk that they were growing in, because some of what Paul had written to them in the first letter worked. The Lord used some of what he had written in that first letter to cause them to grow. In the first book, in the first letter, chapter 2, verse 13, it describes them receiving the word, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. And that's what happens if you and I take this book and we accept it, not as just a letter written by Paul, but a letter written by God to us. And if we receive it as God's word, you know what it's going to do? It's going to change us and we're going to respond to it. And that is what happened in their life. And in spite of, in spite of the persecution and the opposition that they were facing, they had grown. They had grown in their character and in their faith. These are some of the three areas of their character that they grew. They did grow in their faith. Look at verse 3. Paul says in chapter 1, We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet. Why? Because that your faith groweth exceedingly. This was something that they had flourished in in their faith. They had learned that even during the most difficult and most trying times as a church could ever have, they learned to trust in God. And that's a good lesson for us. Even if we go through difficult, trying circumstances, it's nothing like it was to be a Christian in the Thessalonian church at that time. We don't have it bad compared to them. Yet they, in spite of that, learn to trust in the Lord during those difficult and dangerous times. They grew in faith, but they also grew in love. It goes on in verse 3. He was thanking them, not just for their faith that grew, but also for the charity or the love, that selfless, giving kind of love, that agape form of love of every one of you all toward each other. And here's the word. It abounds. It abounded. It continues to grow. You as Christians, your love for each other has grown since my first letter. It works. What God has told me to write to you works because they realize that when they're going through tough times, they couldn't just live on their own. They needed each other. They needed to love each other. Now, when churches go through times of persecution or times of trial, Many times that's an opportunity for the spirit to develop love within that church body. Think about it. Some of the times where we have lost loved ones within this church body, that is a time where we can share love with each other and show love with each other. God does that for us. Think about some of the churches that are still persecuted today in China, in Korea, in some of the Arabian countries there and the persecution they're facing. They love each other. More than probably, we love each other because in that cauldron of persecution and opposition and danger, they learn that they need each other. And they, in Thessalonica, grew not just in faith, but also in love for each other. And then Paul continues to commend them in verse 4. He says, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for another aspect of their character, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure. Because of their faith in God, because of their love for God and for each other, you know what happened? They were able to endure some of those persecutions. They were patient. This was the character of these believers, and it was growing. It was growing exceedingly. It was growing in an abundant way. It was growing throughout all their tribulations. And Paul is revealing that this kind of character is absolutely vital. This first dimension of our lives in Christian character must develop in order for us to really have a walk that pleases the Lord. You see, without love, without faith, and without patience like they had, we could never withstand the storms that this life will bring to us. Because what is inside of you matters. You know, the Bible says that the Lord doesn't look on the outward appearance like you and I do. I don't know your very character. I don't know what's deep down inside of your heart, what's there in the core, but God does. And that is really what matters to God. If your character is lacking, when the storm comes, you will find yourself to fall. Just like on Friday night, the winds came. And you know what happened when those winds came? It tested the very core of those trees, didn't it? It tested the core. It tested the root system. It tested everything about it. You could see a tree on Friday afternoon and think, that's a big, strong tree. Mighty as an oak, as the saying goes. But you don't know what's going on inside of that tree. Unfortunately, we've seen what's inside of some of these trees over the last couple of days, haven't we? And you've seen a tree that might have been knocked down. There were some strong ones that were knocked down, but then there's a few where you start to see some of that rot in the middle of that tree. And the character of that tree was displayed. And that was what weakened that particular tree. And so it is with us. If we are going to withstand the storms of this life, we need to have a character that is strong before God. A faith and a love and a patience in God that is growing. Otherwise, we will fall. How can we grow in our character? It only comes through a close, personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is where we get our character. That is where we get our growth. Jesus said, if you abide in me and I abide in you, my words abide in you, you will ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. We cannot do anything apart from abiding in Christ. It is through His character that is worked out in our character that will change us and make us strong as believers. So the only way that you and I can become strong in character is by maintaining a vital link with the strength and character of Jesus Christ, and that only comes through a close, personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to constantly be praying to him and praising him. That is our communication with him. That is constantly relying upon him. It is as we are huddled together there in the storm and we're trying to do everything we can to keep safe. We bow our heads and say, Lord, please keep us, because we know that ultimately the times of my life are in your hands. You know, the horse can be prepared for a day of battle, but safety is of the Lord, the scripture says. And so it is in our lives. We can do all that it takes externally, but ultimately, without that vital connection with Christ, we will not be strong. But when you have that first dimension taken care of, which I'm afraid that I sure don't, Our growth cannot stop there. Paul was commending them, but if that was all that he was going to talk about, this particular letter would only be a few verses long because it needed to go on. You see, our growth in our character It's just a part of a fully developed disciple of Jesus Christ. There is also a second dimension. And the second dimension that we see in this epistle is the confidence of your faith. Not just your character, but your confidence and your trust in the Lord. This, again, was an area that was positive in the life of the Thessalonians. He was telling them, you need to take comfort and be confident in the return of Jesus Christ in the first letter. And he heard through the grapevine that they were trusting in the return of Jesus Christ. They did believe that He was going to come back. And that was their confidence. And so, here in this book, Paul comforts the Christians because of their confidence. He says, you are trusting in all the right things. You are trusting in Jesus Christ and His return to save you from this generation, from this world. So this was another area of their growth. The patience and endurance that Paul saw in them was a strong evidence of their trust and love for the Lord. They were confident believers. And even in 2 Thessalonians, it shows us that what he had taught them about the return of Jesus Christ, even though some of it was misunderstood, it wasn't that they didn't believe that he was going to return. It was just a matter of when. They misunderstood that. So what were they confident in? In verse 6 we find that they became confident in the retribution of the Lord. It is so easy for our natural person, when someone comes against us, to want to defend ourselves and lash out and to deliver retribution against them. It is so natural. And yet Jesus tried to say, you need to not do what is natural, but what is unnatural, what is supernatural. If someone comes and strikes you on the cheek, what are you to do? Hit them back? No! He says, turn that other cheek and let them strike you there as well. What's Jesus trying to say? In this world, we as Christians are going to suffer persecution. We are going to suffer tribulation. We are going to suffer problems. But he says, it is not for you to fight for your rights, but rather it is to trust and to be confident in the retribution and the repayment of the Lord. Remember what it says in Romans chapter 12, verse 19? Paul writes to that church, dearly beloved, Do not avenge yourselves. Don't get back at people. But rather, give place under wrath. Be angry, but don't sin. Don't lash out on people. Why? Because as a Christian it says, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. They didn't have to fight for their rights in the middle of that persecution. Because God was going to fight for their rights. They didn't have to get all defensive because with that defensive attitude, they wouldn't be going out of their circles to share the gospel and the love of Christ. But since they were confident in the Lord's retribution for sin and sinners, they could quietly and patiently wait upon the Lord. And that's what it takes in our life. If we are going to develop in our trust, in our confidence in the Lord, we need to leave those things in the hands of God. God will repay those that are in opposition to Him. God will repay the devil who is trying to take us away from this world and take us away from this church. God will repay and we need to rest in Him. A second thing they were confident in was not just the retribution of the Lord, but the rest in the Lord and the labor that they were going through and the troubles was nothing compared to the rest that they would find. In fact, in verse seven, Paul says, and to you who are troubled. Rest with us. Those Thessalonians were going through some big storms. It took us a few hours on Friday night into Saturday morning before we as a family could rest. My wife was at work and that was a worry on my son's heart especially. He wanted mommy to be home. He wanted all of us to be there together. And so finally when my wife came home and we were all able to be there together and we all slept downstairs in the living room in case the storm crept back up, we were all there together and we were able to finally get some rest. Wasn't a whole lot. But I'm sure that these believers were not experiencing the rest that they probably wanted. But the fact is, they knew of a rest to come. In the book of Hebrews, it talks about a rest that is future for the people of God. And so because of the rest that the Lord would give them, especially from their labor and especially from their persecution, again, they could be patient and endure because God promised them a rest. And they were confident in you. Are you confident in the rest that God is going to give you? It's not going to be in this life, but certainly it will be a rest that will be eternal. It will be a rest that is in the future and at a rest that will never, ever, ever end. But they were also confident in the return. of the Lord. And we find this in verse 10 of chapter 1, where He says again, referring back to what He taught in 1 Thessalonians, that when He shall come, when He, Christ, shall come to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day, He is telling them, you did believe what I taught. And that is why you are enduring and patient and being confident Because you believe that Jesus will return. Do we do that? Do we really believe that He is going to come back? You see, this is a major theme in this book. And they knew He was coming. They didn't have any doubt in their mind that He was coming. It's just a matter of when that they had a misunderstanding. You see, this kind of confidence and trust in the Lord, just like our character, that second dimension of confidence is also absolutely vital in our Christian life, because without confidence, we will never be able to make it through any storm in this life, whether it's a storm from the outside, a storm from the inside, whether it's a spiritual storm or a physical storm. Diseases, sicknesses, things like that. If we aren't confident in the Lord, in His retribution, His rest, His return, we will not be able to serve Him with the fervency that it demands. So we need to grow in our confidence. How do we do this? It only comes through a constant focus on and desire for the Lord. The question is, is Christ your focus every day? This is how you become growing in your confidence of Him. It's like if you were to take a camera. And what is the thing that you want to take a picture of? A lot of times it's going to be right there in the middle of that camera, that lens. It's going to be centrally focused, and we've all had it done, where we've taken pictures and it's blurry, right? And it's annoying. You don't want to pay for those pictures. And those pictures that come that they're blurry and you didn't really get things in focus, you just throw them away. The fact is, so many of our lives are like that. We don't keep Christ's central focus. And if we don't do that, we will never have the kind of confidence in Him that is required of us in order for us to become a fully developed disciple of Jesus Christ. The first dimension of our character we need to grow in. The second dimension of our confidence we need to grow in. But our growth cannot stop there. Again, our confidence is just another part of the fully developed disciple. There is a third dimension, and that is the conviction of your faith. Now we are changing our perspective from the positive, the things that the Thessalonian Christians were growing in, to some of the negatives, the things that they were lacking. And so in this third dimension, which is the conviction of your faith, Paul corrects the Christians because of their conviction. Here was an area that they needed to grow in. They knew and were confident that Jesus Christ was coming again as we are. They just misunderstood and they misapplied Paul's teaching. And then there were some people that were misinterpreting and misrepresenting Paul's teaching, and they became Paul's teachers. And so since they were there face to face with those Christians, they started listening and following after them. And so Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, no. There are some convictions about doctrinal teaching that you need to grow in. And that's the truth for us as well. There are some things that we need to learn about the Bible. There is none of us that have fully attained in our grasp and understanding about the teaching and doctrine of Scripture. None of us should ever just rest and say, well, I know it all, I've heard it all. Because the fact is, none of us, even though we may have heard much of it, even though we may believe much of it, do we truly understand all of it. The fact is, like the Thessalonians, who were taught by Paul himself, We are lacking in this area as well. They needed to grow in the doctrine of Christ's return. And so, in order to grow in their conviction about Christ's return, Paul says in chapter 2, verse 2, don't be disturbed by Paul's teaching. Don't be disturbed by false teaching. Look at verse two of chapter two. He says that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Now, they knew that Christ was coming and Paul saying, don't take away your confidence, but rather take away your misunderstanding. Don't be disturbed by false teaching. There were some that thought that Jesus Christ had returned or perhaps was going to return the next day. And so some of what he goes into later on was they started selling everything and perhaps they started living on a mountaintop, just waiting and being lazy. They understood and they believed that Christ was coming, it's just they didn't fully grasp when or how. And so Paul says in order to correct their conviction about the truth, don't be disturbed by false teaching. In other words, ignore what they're saying. Listen to what I have said and what I'm going to say here. But also don't be deceived by false teaching. He goes on in verse three saying, let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come." Now, that day is not talking about the rapture that we've looked at already in 1 Thessalonians. It's talking about when Jesus Christ comes with his saints in order to deliver this world from sin and the devil. He says, "...for that day shall not come, except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." So I can imagine some of the Christians were thinking, alright, These people that have been persecuting us, they've got it coming. And it's going to happen here pretty soon. And so I'm going to get rid of all my things and I'm going to be praying God's fire and judgment upon them right now. failing to recognize that this is still the area in the age of grace where God is still pouring out His love upon mankind by saying, come to me through Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And so many of them fail to understand and differentiate all these different truths. But he said this, if you have false teachers that are saying that, go ahead and pray for the destruction of these individuals. Don't follow those who are leading you astray. Don't follow those who are leading you away from what I taught you, from the Word of God. Don't be disturbed by false teaching. Don't be deceived by false teaching. But, also, don't disregard the truth. Verse 5, he says of chapter 2, Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? He says, don't forget what I taught you, because they are the words of God. Don't forget what I taught you. In Hebrews, we see a different way. Hebrews 2.1 says, Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Don't disregard the truth. Always come back to the Word of God if there's a misunderstanding or you don't fully grasp what he's trying to teach. Where do you go? Don't go to this person. Don't go to this person. Don't go to this false teacher. Go to the Word of God and assess it for yourself and understand it for yourself. And then finally, don't depart from the truth, he says. Verse 15, he says, Therefore, brethren, stand fast. Don't depart from the truth and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or our ethos. There are so many in churches today that are not feeding this verse. They are not holding fast the traditions which we have been taught. We need to understand that we can fall away from the truth. And that was something that the people in Thessalonians were in danger of. But what did they need to do? Proverbs 4.13 says, Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her, for she is thy life. The Word of God is our life. Don't let go of it. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Listen to it. Because this is how we're going to stay in the truth. That kind of conviction of the truth is vital. If you don't understand something, dig deeper until you do. And you pray God that He will send His Spirit to illuminate your heart. And there are some ways and areas of doctrinal teaching that we are weak in and that we need to grow in. And this is a key third dimension of our spiritual growth. Because without conviction and consideration of doctrine and of the truth, we can never grow. Because this is our nutrition. This is how we grow. We will remain on the milk of the word and never graduate to the meat of the word. And we see those two elements in scripture. If you go to a grocery store, you will see aisles and aisles of Gerber and other brands of baby food. Now, I know that some parents, and I know some parents, that when their children had baby food, sometimes they would just eat that baby food right out of the jar, along with the baby. That just grossed me out. I mean, that was, I never did that. Never. Not once. But! What do they do? What have they made in order to market this? Of course, from that first stage of baby food, which is all messed up and really gross, what do they do? They now have the Gerber graduates. So now you have a little baby that is able to eat a little bit more meat and able to graduate onto those things. Some of us have been on the same Gerber baby food of the milk of God's word for a long time. Why? Because we have not seen the necessity of digging deeper. We've not seen the importance of growing in our understanding and grasp of biblical teaching and doctrine. So what do we need to do? We need to graduate! We need to get our teeth on some real meat! And if it's hard to understand, what do we do? We dig a little deeper! And now we have the full record and revelation of God. And now we can compare parts of the Old Testament with the New Testament. And we have the church and we have books and we are able to pray to the Holy Spirit who will give us deep understanding of the truths of His Word. We need to grow in our convictions of the doctrines and the teachings of God's Word. And this was an area of their weakness. And in many of our lives, this is an area of weakness as well. How can we grow in our convictions? It only comes through a careful reading and study of the Word of God. That is why We've been going through adult Sunday school class, through R.C. Sproul's Knowing Scripture. Why? Because we have to have the tools in order to be able to dig a little deeper and to study more. And so if some of those things are hard to understand, what do you need to do? You need to dig a little deeper. And this ought to be our primary purpose in life, is to know God through His Word. But, even there, our growth cannot stop. Because there's a fourth dimension and a final dimension that Paul addresses in Thessalonians here. Now, it has been said that doctrine without practice is not good doctrine. We know a lot of people that probably say they believe all these things, but it never is shown in their life. But the fact is, practice without doctrine is also not good practice. They need to go hand in hand. And the fourth dimension is the conduct of your faith, the conduct of your faith. Because without proper conduct that comes from proper convictions, there can be no spiritual growth and you will never become a fully developed disciple of Jesus Christ. Paul agreed with that statement. Doctrine without practice is not good doctrine, and practice without doctrine is not good practice. Because in 2 Thessalonians, Paul confronts the Christians because of their conduct, the things that were coming out of their life. Their character was okay, their confidence was okay, but their convictions were lacking and so was their conduct. And so are there some areas After they followed the false teachings about the Lord's return, it showed in their conduct. And that's what happens. If you have the wrong doctrine, you're going to have the wrong conduct. They believed that the Lord was going to return, but they believed that His return in judgment was just around the corner. And with that, it changed how they lived. And so the church needed to deal with, in verse 6 of chapter 3, the disorderly. Paul says, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother, that's Christian brother, that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us. There were some people that were walking disorderly against what Christ was teaching in the truth of His Word. And what were they to do in order to deal with us? with the disorderly, they were to separate from the disorderly. They were literally to sever those ties and to treat them as if they were not a brother until they came back to the truth of Christ. And sometimes this is a very harsh reality. Sometimes it is important for us to say, well, we're going to treat you as not a brother because you're not following after the truth of God's Word. You're not acting like a brother. So, by God's design, we're going to treat you like a non-believer in order for you to come and repent of that sin. Sometimes it takes separation from the disorderly, from those who do not live according to God's Word, and they had that in that church. But also, the church needed to deal with the dogglers, or the lazy people. In verse 11, there were some that thought, well, I can just live my life my way and I can be lazy. He said in verse 11, for we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but busybodies. What are you doing? You're lazy. You've sold all your belongings. You're just standing there, living on a mountain, waiting for God to return. And like he did to Sodom and Gomorrah, you just burn up all those people that are persecuting you. He said, you misunderstood the entire importance of the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. And so he was telling them that they need to scold those who were lazy because they misunderstood the truth of Christ's coming. But then also the church needed to deal with those who were diligent. There were those that were disorderly, those that were the toddlers, those that were lazy, and then the diligent. In verse 13, he says, But you, brethren, in order for you to be a fully developed disciple, but ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing. They were to stand in the truth and persevere. This conduct is vital in order for us to be a fully developed disciple. James chapter 2 verse 20 says, But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Without proper conduct that comes from a proper conviction, there can be no spiritual growth and you cannot be a fully developed disciple. How can you grow in your conduct? How can you tell if you are by looking more like Jesus Christ? Listen to what 1 John 2, 6 says. It says, He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. That's the fourth dimension. This is a picture of a fully developed disciple of Jesus Christ. growing in all four dimensions in the character of your life, in the confidence in your Lord, in your convictions of the truth and in your very conduct. And if you're not growing in all areas, there's something lacking. There's something lacking. And I think all of us, just like the Thessalonians, could probably think of a couple of areas that we've grown in. But then we think of a couple of areas that we haven't really tried to grow in. We haven't really focused on. We haven't really paid attention to. We need to be fully developed disciples. That's the purpose of this book, and that's why we're going to dig into it a little deeper, because this is what Paul wanted them to become, and this is what God wants you to become. A fully developed disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. What are some areas that you are letting slip and slide? What are some areas? We ought not to leave any stone unturned. There's a story behind that phrase. Back before Christ, there was a Roman God or a Greek God, I guess, who went to another God and said he was looking for treasure. And this other God, this mythological God said, don't leave any stone unturned and you'll find it. And so that other fake God started pulling stones over until he found this great treasure. And that's the fact here with us. If we leave stones unturned, We will never become a fully developed disciple. But what area do you need to continue to churn up that soil of your life, to grow? Is it your character? Is it your confidence in the Lord? Is it your convictions and your knowledge of the truth? Or is it even your conduct? This will make you a full, sharp, developed disciple of Jesus Christ, just like the Thessalonians. Now, I would like to know what Paul heard after this second letter. But we don't know. So the. And in the final part of this particular book is up to us and it's up to this church to write that final chapter and say that we at Grace Baptist Church have become fully dimensional, four dimensional, fully developed disciples of the Lord.