And in the first Thessalonians, chapter five. Verse number nine. For God has not appointed us to wrath. But to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, some see in verse nine a reference to the rapture and The meaning of the word wrath here would be the tribulation and that God has not appointed us to as Christians to go through the tribulation and we'll be caught away. Chapter four says before the tribulation of seven years unfold here on the earth. Others say verse nine is a reference to. eternal wrath or the judgment of God and that we are recipients of salvation. We escape hell. We escape eternal condemnation. That's also true. But it also. One writer says it could perhaps refer to not eternal wrath or eschatological wrath, that's the end time wrath, but rather chastising wrath. Paul told the Hebrews, if indeed he's the human writer of Hebrews, that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. We often make that a an appeal to lost people, because if you die without Christ, you perish. But actually, the passage in Hebrews is a warning to believers who are being deliberately disobedient to God. And and the writer says it's a fearful thing. Now, does it mean you lose your salvation? No. Does it mean you don't go to heaven when you die? No, but it's still a fearful thing to be chastised by our heavenly father. Others don't like that application of the the word wrath here. But verse 10 goes on to say whether we die. For who Christ died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together. The word comfort here means means to encourage. It means to there's some exhortation involved here and edify. That means build each other up, even as also you do. And we beseech you, we beg you, brethren. To know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly, and love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, seeing that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil, and then the text from this morning's message, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. This seems to be a prayer that Paul is asking. Paul is praying and says, And I pray that God will sanctify you wholly and your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the message this morning, I preached about God as a God of peace and that sinners are at war with God and that reconciliation takes place through the work of Jesus Christ. But the application of that peace, the enjoyment of that peace, the experience of that peace is described here in First Thessalonians as God setting apart your body, soul and spirit and God actually taking all the implications of salvation and all the results of being saved and changing your whole person. body, soul and spirit. We don't yet know what what that glorified body is going to be, but it's going to be glorious. It's going to be wonderful. I can't imagine what it would be like without the sin nature. But but even even the body itself, without any of the earmarks and ravages of the sin curse, no blindness, no deafness, no cancer, no broken bones, no arthritis, no ailments, big, little, or small. None of those things. And somebody told me the other day, and they said it in almost a joking way, but I know they were sort of sincere. They said, I can't remember the last time I didn't hurt all over. Now, that may be you. tonight. Every illness, every ailment has a tendency sort of just be kind of all consuming. I know Tuesday afternoon I didn't feel well. I've had the funeral service in that morning and then I just as the day went on I felt worse and worse. I didn't know if it was psychological or physical. I think it was primarily physical. And I started taking zinc. I actually started taking zinc last Sunday. And let me tell you, I feel heavy. No, I think it helped me. I think it did. I really did. I don't know if it wards off the worst ailments of the cold or not, but I was taking those zinc tablets. And it says it's supposed to be good for you. And so I was taking that, and I'm thinking, I don't know if this is working or not. And the more I thought about it, the more I ached all over. I'm thinking this is probably like the bubonic plague or something or, you know, no, it's like this could be the flu. It turned out it wasn't. But I'm thinking, boy, I just hurt all over. But I thought, I don't feel that way often. This fellow told me, he said, I can't remember the last time I didn't hurt all over. I saw Brother Kirkman, Brother Paul Kirkman in Detroit. And I asked him how he was doing. He's had so many surgeries. He's had so many health problems. He's in his 90s now and he just keeps pressing on for the Lord. But I asked him about a couple of his health problems. He said he said, oh, I forgot about those things. He said, I've got arthritis in my spine so bad I can't think about anything else. He said, I've forgotten about my other health problems. and difficulties just walking and getting around. And he wasn't the fellow who said he hurt all the time, but I know he was in some pain. I can't imagine what it'll finally be like for bodies to be released from that. What it'll be like not to have a body hindered by ailments. Someone sent me some information a few months ago about spina bifida, from which Trista Kittle has suffered since birth. And she's remarkable, a young lady, and working full-time, I guess, still over at Fifth Third Bank, and got a job over there, and has accomplished things in her life that I don't think a lot of people even dream that she would be able to do. I'm sure her mommy and daddy and grandparents prayed, and we did pray, and I'm sure you prayed for her, that she would be well. But she's quite a sweet young lady. I think she sings in the choir. Doesn't she, Brother Ed? And some other things she does. And she's always got a smiling face. And she's always got something funny to tell you. She's got a good sense of humor. I think, boy, that's pretty valuable to be sitting in a wheelchair living with spina bifida 24-7 and then say, hey, I got a funny story for you. I mean, the rest of us, you know, we kind of mope and dope sometimes, you know, it's like, what's the matter with you? Oh, well, you know, it's cloudy. Really? That's the worst thing that happened to you today? That it was cloudy? Yeah, it's a down day. It's cloudy. Yeah, but what about all the blessings you have? But anyway, the point I'm making I want to be grand to get to heaven and see all the symptoms of spina bifida gone and all of those ailments absent. All you have to do to know this is not the world, the final world we want, is take a stroll with me through Children's Hospital. And I don't mean the emergency wing where they're stitching up Johnny who bumped his head again, you know. I'm glad that's there, by the way. I'm not making light of the emergency room. But I mean going to some of the wings of Children's Hospital that I don't have any harder place to visit. I've never ever had any harder place to visit than some of those wings at Children's Hospital or to visit burns patients, people who have been badly, badly burned. I, you know, most of my hospital visits are, I don't, I'm not disparaging your ailments, but I mean, you know, they are gallbladder surgery or heart surgery. That's serious stuff, but, and sometimes real serious battles with cancer and those kinds of things. But I mean, those little children that are battling, leukemia or or cancer or brain tumors. It's just staggering just breathtaking. I think what what a world it will be what a better world it will be when no one is suffering from any of those things. And I think sometimes for me if it's no more than realizing Lord I can't be satisfied with this world. Because so what? So maybe I feel great, but what about that little child over there? What about that person over there? What about that person that's hurting? We must want a better world if we really care about others. And the good news is a better world is coming. A better world is on its way, and God will make that appointment sure for us. One of the problems we have in waiting for that is, so what is my responsibility now? Why am I here? Why does God want me to live in this world, good, bad, or indifferent? Some blessings, some problems. What is my purpose here? And just as we are saved by grace and we are sustained by grace, some people confuse the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. And we think, well, We adopt this fatalistic, whatever will be, will be kind of nonchalance as though we have nothing to do. Look, if people don't hear the gospel and repent and believe, they'll be lost. But God's sovereign. God's working. Yes, of course. But God told us to preach the gospel to every creature. God told us to tell every man, woman, boy and girl. that they're sinners, that Christ died for sinners, they should turn and trust him. And unless we tell them they hear it or others tell them they will not turn and trust Christ. It's just that way. So after we're saved, ironically, some of us adopt that same fatalistic attitude and say, well, you know, once saved, always saved on my way to heaven. Someday it'll all work out. Someday God will take away all our troubles, wipe away all our tears. So what really You know, what I do now couldn't really matter, does it? But as Paul is closing this book, he in rapid fire fashion says, now, here's what you need to be doing, says in every chapter, he's reminded them that Jesus is coming back. Jesus is coming again. And nowhere does Paul say, so I need you to get your ascension robe and climb up on the roof. Or what you need to do then is just go down into the cellar and hunker down and wait. Now, Paul in every chapter has been exhorting them that Jesus is coming back. And in chapter four goes into this exquisite word picture of maybe not exactly how it's going to happen, but I mean, you can't miss the import. Christ is coming in the clouds and the dead in Christ, their bodies are going to come up out of the ground. and going to become glorified bodies and we're going to be caught up. Now, it doesn't give us all the curious details of it. It's like, well, what is that going to feel like? It's all good. It's all going to be good. Don't worry. Don't you worry about it. Don't you worry about how it's going to feel or what's going to happen. It's going to happen. But it gives us this beautiful work picture of the rapture and the resurrection and And yet then he immediately launches here in chapter five, he says, now here's what you need to do. Not not once does he say that we should sit around and just wait for that event. He doesn't say we should be hermits or or, you know, do nothing. He said, now, it seems to me that Paul says now, now here's you need to get busy. You need to be faithful about these things, he says. Comfort yourselves, encourage each other, edify one another and. Then a verse 14, he says, warn them that are unruly. Some are not doing what they ought to be doing well, don't worry about it, the Lord will sort that out when he comes back. No, the Bible says, warn them that are unruly. Somebody's out of line. You speak up, say they're out of line. Uh, if, uh, someone is feeble minded, he says, comfort or support the weak, be patient toward all men. And he gives us these, these, um, sort of staccato commands. Verse 16, it gets very brief. It says, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing and everything. Give thanks. Verse 19, quench, not the spirit. There are two things though the Bible warns us about our relationship with the Holy Spirit. One is grieving the Holy Spirit and one is quenching the Holy Spirit. Some see those as grieving the Holy Spirit is deliberate disobedience in a Christian. And by that I mean deliberate knowing what God tells you to do in his word. and consciously saying I don't want to do that. I'm not going to do that. Quenching the Holy Spirit on the other hand is refusing to do what the Holy Spirit is urging us to do. Perhaps the good things to speak to someone or to bless someone or to help someone to quench the spirit And now, none of these images are meant to say that we dispatch the Holy Spirit from us. There isn't anything that you can do to unsave yourself. You just can't. No man's going to pluck you out of the Father's hand, not even you. And so, quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit doesn't, and I believe it is warning saved people, that if we deliberately disobey God, That's grievous to the Holy Spirit that grieves our Heavenly Father, grieves the Holy Spirit in us. And if we ignore the urging and opportunities the Holy Spirit puts in front of us and the sense of oughtness of things we ought to do, I believe that that would certainly qualify as quenching the spirit. The spirit is both fire and light to us and And to to put out that fire or to dampen it or to discourage it, that would be an unfortunate thing for a Christian. Then he says in verse 20, despise not prophesying. I think the word here means for us the preaching of the word of God, the truth of God. Don't despise the truth of God as it's given to you in in the Sunday school, in the preaching, in Bible study, in your search of the scriptures. Don't despise. what the Holy Spirit is teaching you. Prove all things, put things to the test. Don't believe everything you hear. Be like the Bereans who search the scriptures. When you find the truth, hold fast to it. Proving all things doesn't mean that you have to be forever uncertain about the truth. You don't have to wake up every morning doubting everything. Now, I say this because Some agnostics and thinkers, they think existentially, they think every day you just sort of have to sort of figure it all out again. No, here's a wonderful thing. You learned something yesterday, you can still know that today when you wake up, unless you forget it. In other words, you don't have to start at ground zero. Aren't you glad every morning when you wake up, you don't have to learn how to walk again? Now, if you're injured or, you know, something happens to you, you may have to do that. But, you know, come morning, you roll out of bed and your feet hit the floor and, I mean, walking's pretty complicated. You watch a crawler, you know, man, they make it look hard. They make standing up look like an adventure. They are like, what's the problem? They look a little unsteady there. They're swaying back and forth. They're saying, well, get a grip, kid. You know, stand up. Take a couple of steps. They make it look hard. I don't remember it being that hard, really. I mean, it's like I don't remember learning to walk either. But I'm saying, aren't you glad every morning? You just take that for granted. Things you learned yesterday. So when you're approving all things, you don't have to wake up every morning agnostic and and doubting everything and saying, well, you know, I don't know if the Bible is true. I don't know if God's word is true. I don't know why. Sure. The things you've already learned, he says, hold fast to those things. Proving all things is not the message of the cynic, it's not the person that says, well, I just don't think you can know anything. Who knows? You know, maybe it's all just You know, a fraud, but no, he's saying, look, once you find out what's true, hold fast to it, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil. My point being, number one, is that you seek God's sanctification in your life. You need to be busy about the Lord's work. There isn't any indication that God's work in and through us is done with our utter passivity and do nothingness. It's every indication I get from the scripture is that God's children who are progressing are on the move. They are walking. They are working. They are progressing. They are moving and they are going forward. The Christian life is to be an active life. I was sent some material about strengthening your mind and it was in the context of battling Alzheimer's and a lot of research going on about that a lot of studies and They've got more information now than they've been able to process, I think. I'm not sure they're at a point where they understand even what they discovered about that, how the brain works and how Alzheimer works. I was thinking about this, I was at the barbershop the other day and the customer before me, I learned after he left that he was I sort of suspected that as I saw him rising from the barber chair there, and the symptoms were there. And sure enough, a man with a brilliant mind, a brilliant career, has now been ravaged. I saw as he was rising, or just about done, his wife must have been waiting because she broke right into the room. She came right in there. She was right there, and all my heart just turned inside of me. It's like, Lord, help that couple. I just pray for them because that's such a terrible ailment and disease. Anyway, the study I looked up about that was one of the factors that nearly every researcher is agreeing upon is that one of the best things you can do is to keep your mind Active. Active. Active. Keep your mind active. I told Brother Dewberry about this. One of the things they suggested, Brother Dewberry, was to play games, like board games. And now a word from our sponsor. No, no, I won't go that far. But I thought board games? Really? Board games? What's up with that? Board games. Reading. Conversation. The studies are showing that those things stimulate the right sections of the brain and keep you engaged. One of the worst things you can do, apparently, is disengage. Way down there on the list of recommendations is watching television. You think, oh, television keeps me hypnotized. I'm sorry. That's about. I love the television ministry. I mean, it's a victorious life hour. I mean, how could that hurt you? You know, that's got to help you. But I'm saying evidently there's something about television that just kind of lulls people into some kind of turns them into zombies, like just, you know, just sort of what are you watching? I don't know. It's almost over. You know, I was flipping the channel today and stop, stop, I had to stop me TV because the pilot episode of the Lone Ranger was on. I don't know how in the world I hit this, I hit this television jackpot today. I'm going, you know, I thought about watching the Bengals. I thought, no, I thought I'm not going to do that. And that turns out I was right about that. But I, and there, there it was. The pilot episode, September the 15th, 1949, and there he was. Nearly got killed in that first ambush, by the way, and you know how the story goes, and how he met, actually, he knew Tonto from their childhood, and he saved Tonto's life when he was just a little whippersnapper, and then Tonto remembered him. You know, Tonto finds him wounded and dying in the desert and rescues The Lone Ranger. And it tells you how... I mean, it's a great episode. You learn how he catches silver, this wild stallion. You talk about smart horse. I mean, he saddle trained that horse in like seven minutes. It was amazing. I mean, this wild stallion and he breaks into... And why he had silver bullets and where the silver mine is. where he and his brother owned a silver mine, which is handy if you want to, you know. I'm thinking, where does he get his money? Well, he owned a silver mine. And that's where he got his bullets. And Tonto made the mask for him. And I thought, this is really interesting. And then it ended. The episode ended and left you hanging. I think I'm a good Greek. I have to go to choir practice. What's going to happen to Cavendish and the band there? But I had to turn it off. I suppose if I but I'm saying most television is not that interesting. That's the most interesting thing I've seen on television like six months. The pilot episode of the Lone Ranger and most of the time television is either taking your mind in the wrong direction or worse yet not taking it anywhere. Just sort of. You're just sort of in a holding pattern. I didn't mean to preach on television. I'm just saying it's not really the stimulus that your brain needs. It's not really the the the dynamite that you need turning around up there. You need to be talking to people. You need to be engaging in. You need to be working calculus problems. And so Goku. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's good for you. I can't do it, but it's good for you if you could. It's good. Little puzzles like that and keep your mind stimulated. And I mean, do I need to tell you that the word of God is good for you? The word of God is the bread of life. It's it's your daily bread, too. You need that stimulation of the word of God, not reading it, meditating on it. I've been exhorting people to read the Bible. Christians need to meditate, and it's not that's not some mystical Eastern nonsense. I mean, it means get that truth in your head and think about it. Don't don't think meditation is, oh, I got what I got a chance, something meditation just means just keep thinking about it. Keep turning the diamond. Keep looking at all the facets of it. It doesn't mean make stuff up. It doesn't mean get things in your head and say, well, I read the Bible today and I wonder if there's little green men on Mars. That's not meditating. Meditating is what is this verse saying? What does this verse mean? What is it teaching me? How should it change me? Why am I resisting the change that this verse calls me to? I mean, that's what meditation is. Meditation is not just kind of hypnotizing yourself and saying, well, you know, some kind of holy mantra. Meditation is just. It's like a cow chewing the cud. You know what that is, don't you? That's that's just the grass that they ate yesterday. Bring it up from the third stomach and. Do you want some more? It's the same food. You didn't know that, didn't you? It's not the cow. You think, boy, those cows, they sure get some faraway looks in their eyes. Not really. Most cows are standing there saying, well, this is good. This is the best. Oh, this is great. They're thinking about the food they ate. That's about all they think about. So meditation is not some mystical imagination like make believe meditation is thinking about what you just read. And although this study wasn't talking about spiritual food and spiritual nourishment, I could see the application of it and to keep your mind active. My point being is that the Christian life is to be an active life. Sometimes seniors find that physical activity is limited. But that need not be a barrier to mental and spiritual activity. There there isn't any reason why a child of God cannot stay spiritually and mentally active, barring some mental illness or disease that prohibits that no matter what your physical capacity, no matter what your physical ailment, there isn't any reason why you can't stay active in the spirit and in mind. I can't think of a better ministry for the shut-ins than the prayer ministry or the encouragement ministry. I told one of our shut-ins, you know, the people that want to come and be a blessing to you, they need to do that. It's not that you're a bother. They need that activity. They need that outreach. They need to be busy doing that. Say, well, I don't want to bother anybody. Well, it's not that you're bothering somebody, they need that activity, that service. So your Christian life is an active life. And that's the way it's described here in this last half of 1 Thessalonians 5. Exhort this person, rebuke this person, encourage this person, be patient. Call it like it is, if somebody's out of line, tell them they're out of line. Rejoice evermore. And sometimes rejoicing is a hard work. You might think it has to be spontaneous, but it's not. Rejoicing often takes more discipline than grumbling does. Sometimes grumbling is more spontaneous and our old nature is more prone to it and we don't even Did you ever find yourself grumbling and you didn't even know when you started? That ever happened to you never have your wife say How come you're in a bad mood? I didn't know I was and you you've been grumbling about something you've been Have you ever noticed how grumbling comes easy? I? Now, some of you are saying it becomes easier to others, some more than others. Some are like you like state of the art grumblers, you know, it's like that. But I think it's easier for us to grumble than it is to rejoice. I think that's the path of least resistance. I think our old sin nature has something to do with that. I'm sure the devil has his hand in that. I'm sure selfishness has something to do with that. But it just seems to be easier to grumble than to rejoice. So to rejoice sometimes that's hard. I think we would all like to think like, well, I don't want to be a phony. I just I just say what I feel that could be good. I could be bad. Sometimes we don't need to say what we feel. Sometimes we need to change what we feel. And then say what we should feel and get control. The Bible says, bring every thought captive, lasso every thought. I don't know who the preacher was, but he told me, he said, in your head, he says, there's a there's long horn cattle running loose. And he says, your head's full of them. And he says, and he says, your job is to lasso them. and get them under control. I thought, wow, that means you've got to stay in the saddle. You've got to be busy because I have a lot of thoughts. You have a lot of thoughts. The Bible says lasso every last one of them. Now, most of us want to think, well, you can't help what you think. Oh, yes, you can. You can control what you think. I can control what I think. Now, we like to tell ourselves, like, well, I don't know why I'm sitting here grumbling. Oh, yes, you can. You can figure it out. You might need some help. Maybe a friend could help you. But beware of the friend who just comes in and grumbles with you and reminds you the other stuff you forgot to grumble about. That's not really helpful. That's not. Oh, yeah, my friend came by and such a blessing to me. And she reminded me of 12 more things that were wrong with my life. And so it was a good visit. No, that's not really encouraging one another, edifying one another, comforting one another. But the Christian life is an active life, rejoicing, praying without ceasing. Have you ever thought about how you do that? How do you pray without ceasing? Does it mean that it's uninterrupted praying? Does it mean that it is, you know, scheduled praying like Daniel morning, noon and night? Does it mean that? Well, it says pray without. Ceasing. The. The understanding that I have is that it is a constant. Line of communication. Now, I'm not sure I understand this, and if you want to argue with me about this and say, well, that's silly, all you do, you pray before your meals, you pray before you go to bed and you pray when you're at church, that ought to do it or you pray over your list, your prayer list. How could you possibly pray without ceasing? Now, if you're satisfied that it's just seasons of prayer ever so often, as long as you, you know, pray every day or pray a couple of times a day, that'll do it. I'm not going to discourage you from praying a few times a day. I'm not going to say that's not that. But I really have a sense that what is saying here is that there. How often do you do you think when you're conscious? Hopefully all the time. Some of you don't, but no, hopefully there is this self-awareness that is nonstop in your waking hours. Now, I'm not trying to go Alfred Hitchcock on you or, you know, or psycho on you, but there there is inside of your head. This self. Awareness. Nothing's happening that you're not processing. You're you're seeing it. You're hearing it. You're you're thinking about it and you're thinking about it in terms of should I say something? Should I do something? What does this mean? What do I understand? Should I ask the question you're processing? You're in a moment by moment conversation with yourself. Don't kid yourself. You talk to yourself nonstop. You just don't do it out loud. I don't recommend that you do it out loud, but. You are in conversation with yourself constantly. Did you know that as children of God, we also have the opportunity to be in constant communication with the Lord? One of the greatest lies the devil will convince a Christian is that. Well, these next two hours, I got to do this, I got to go to work, punch in the time clock or check in my office and You know, I can't wait a lunchtime because I'm going to I'm going to pray at lunchtime and ask the Lord to bless my food and help me the rest of the day. I'm going to check in with the Lord at noon. And by the way, I do think you should pray at noon. But did you know that you have the privilege and I think we have the responsibility to be in constant two way communication with the Lord? His spirit bears witness with our spirit. He said, when does he do that? Oh, just on Sundays. 930, 1130, 830, 12, max. Then again, Sunday night, he bears witness with your spirit. If you come on Wednesday night, he'll check in with you and bear witness with your spirit. Or maybe episodically throughout the day, whenever you think about the Lord, The Holy Spirit will show up and he will. I believe the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit without ceasing, without ceasing. Ever present in my soul. So I does how does that how do you think or talk that way? Well. Here's the import of here's the impact of it. This is what happens. When you have a constant sense that God is present, it does affect what you think. It's not about God finding out later what you thought. It's about God knowing immediately what you're thinking. And it's not about you say, well, I need to pray and ask God to give me wisdom. You know, come six o'clock, I'm going to pray. Boy, I can't wait on prayer time because I need to ask. You can talk to God at any moment. Your spirit bears witness with his spirit. Not all of your prayer is close your eyes and some incantation of religious sounding words. It is you being aware of the presence of God in your soul. And that can be nonstop. I personally think it is nonstop. I just don't think we're always aware of it. You say, well, how could you ever ignore that if that were true? Do you know how easy it is to ignore somebody? Dangerously easy. Do you ever notice how easy it is to tune somebody out? Do you ever watch a parent tune out a child? Are you going to answer him? Who? Oh, that little boy that's chattering there. Oh, I was ignoring you. You ever ignore somebody? No, please, wives, don't raise your hand or husbands, don't you ever? You ever just somebody in the room talking to you and you're not even hearing them? We can do that to people in our presence. We do that to God. It's not that God is absent from us. It's not that God doesn't communicate with us. It's not that God's word doesn't That isn't in our hearts and constantly bearing witness. We're not listening. Now, I don't mean to suggest to you that verse 17 is any easier than verse number 16, and I don't want to thrust you into some kind of despair saying, man, man, I'm behind the curve on this. I don't know if I feel that way 24-7. I'm going to confess, I don't know anybody who does. I mean, you may say, oh, that's me. I am 24 seven. Every breath I take, I'm in tune with God. I'm on a two way spiritual radio with God. And we are just, you know, just back and forth, just constantly. I'm happy for you, but please don't tell me that it's probably depressed me too much. But anyway, good for you. Good for you. But if you're like most of us, you're about as good as Verse 17, as you are about verse 16. Think, well, I don't pray without ceasing. Well, do you rejoice evermore? You rejoice in the Lord always? If you're like most of us, no. You rejoice, something happens to disappoint you, you grumble, sort of spiral a little bit and somebody says, hey, you know, but you need to rejoice. Oh, yeah, I need it back up to rejoicing. You and I don't rejoice evermore. We don't give thanks in everything. Sometimes we do quench the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we do despise what the Bible says. Sometimes we don't prove things. Sometimes we don't hold fast that which is good. Sometimes we don't abstain from the appearance of evil. But that doesn't mean we're lost. It just means God's not finished with us yet, just means that there is a construction. Sign in front of your life, Ruth Bell Graham. A great evangelist wife now now with the Lord was the daughter of, I believe, Presbyterian missionaries in China, she she grew up in China and. Her testimony was that at the end of her life or as her life drew near the end, that she thought of her life as a road under construction. And on her tombstone, she thought it might be appropriate if she said, thank you for your patience. Now, as far as I know, she was one of the most godly women and godly wife and faithful in her life, and I never heard anything untoward. But she felt that there was construction, spiritual construction going on in her life, her whole life. How true it is of all of us. We are under construction. God is sanctifying us wholly. God is dealing with us as children. on a moment by moment basis as a loving Heavenly Father. Verse 24 says, faithful is he that calls you who also will do it. Paul says to the Philippians, he has begun a good work in you. He will be faithful to complete it. Let's bow our heads. Rejoice every more, pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks, quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil. These these are not steps in some kind of program where, OK, I did that one on the number two. These are constantly interwoven. Threads of the same life. Constant. Construction of God's finished handicraft in us, we are his workmanship, Paul told the Ephesians. We are God's handiwork and he's not finished with us yet. Father, bless this service, the reading of your word, the hearing of it. The obedience to it, both now and beyond this time, we pray for it in Jesus name. Let's stand.