August 30, 2024 • 45 mins
Repost from Brother Steven Perry's podcast https://pastorgrove15.podbean.com/
In this episode, we express our heartfelt gratitude to our loyal listeners and offer an apology for the recent inconsistencies in our uploads. It's been a challenging season for our church, but through it all, we remain committed to spreading the gospel.
Join us as we delve into 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, exploring how the scriptures provide guidance and encouragement during difficult times. We'll discuss the importance of viewing God's word from the right perspective, especially during trials, and how Satan can deceive us by distorting our understanding.
We reflect on the experiences of Paul and David, who both navigated various seasons in their lives, from highs to lows. This episode emphasizes the significance of being sober-minded, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of salvation. We'll also touch on the necessity of supporting and uplifting one another within the church community.
Whether you're on the mountaintop or in the valley, this episode aims to remind you of the unwavering hope and encouragement found in Christ. Let's comfort and edify one another as we journey through life's seasons together.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to the Gospel Truth Podcast. Certainly thankful to get on here
and to be able to take another opportunity to upload another episode.
First off, we wanted to start off by saying that we appreciate all of our listeners
and wanted to take a moment to apologize for how inconsistently we've been uploading lately.
Not going to lie, the church has been kind of going through a pretty rough season
(00:20):
this past month. It's been all over the place.
So again, we just want to thank all of our listeners for all the patience and
all of you that have tuned in very faithfully, you know, more than anything,
you know, we don't obviously do this for the fame.
We don't do it for, you know, we don't do it for anything like,
I guess you could say of that nature, but more than, more than anything,
you know, I know that when brother Steven started this podcast.
(00:41):
You know, the point of this was, you know, to get the gospel out,
you know, and that's the whole point, you know, and I'm thankful that God isn't
limited or put into a box to where he can't use certain tools to get his message
out. And I'm thankful for that.
So I know it's a little bit of a different upload tonight, you know,
so I just, if you're tuning in, I just, I just ask that you bear with me,
but I hope and pray that more than anything, that this is a blessing.
(01:01):
So we're actually going to get on here.
And, uh, we, you know, with, you know, like we had already mentioned before
with, you know, the season that we've kind of been in, you know,
I'm just not going to lie to you, you know, this past month of August,
it's kind of a, at least for my family, it's been a pretty rough one.
And, uh, you know, and I find that, you know, when I'm up and down in all these seasons,
you know, I start looking at the scriptures, something that I kind of mentioned
(01:22):
in my adult Sunday school classes, it was not too long ago, is that we get into
these seasons and we oftentimes, you know, begin to start looking at the scriptures from different angles.
You know, sometimes we can look at the scripture from the angle that God wants
us to look at it from, but sometimes too, even in the midst of our trials,
you know, I won't lie to you, there's times where we have a tendency to try
(01:42):
to look at all of the things, not just his word, but look at the things of God
the wrong way at times, you know, and what I mean is from the wrong angle.
And Satan being a deceiver, that's actually what he does and what he works,
not to give him any credit, but that's what he does best.
You know, so with that, you know, with these seasons that we've been in lately,
you know, God just kind of really brought my heart over here to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
(02:05):
And, you know, I will say when you read through this and you start to dive into
it, I'm just going to say it's probably familiar.
You probably think, oh man, Tim, you know, I've, you know, heard,
you know, many times, many messages and many lessons out of this scripture.
But, you know, one thing I will tell you is that, you know, just like,
you know, the word of God teaches us and just like, you know,
how Jesus, you know, spent the time to teach the disciples.
(02:25):
I think it's important that we always have an open heart towards,
you know, instruction that God would give us.
You know, first off, you know, the best part about the word of God is it's a
roadmap for our entire life.
It literally has everything for all of the seasons that we will encounter.
It literally has everything in it. You know, and I'm thankful that more importantly,
if we're looking to the spirit, God knows exactly what scriptures to give us
(02:49):
in each of those seasons.
You know, it's applicable for everything, you know. So First Thessalonians chapter
five is where we're going to be at. So we'll go ahead and actually start reading.
And it says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren.
You have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the
day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon
(03:10):
them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
You are all the children of light and the children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
(03:30):
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith
and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.
So we'll go ahead and stop there and just go ahead and just start breaking down
(03:53):
these verses. verses, you know, I'll try not to go too much,
you know, verse by verse, you know, but first off, I think it's important to
understand, you know, and you might be saying, well, Tim, you know,
how does it, what does this have to do with seasons?
So the Thessalonian church, you know, first off, let's just talk about where it started actually.
So when Paul began to write these epistles, we need to remember that this was
actually during his time in Corinth.
(04:13):
And actually I found in my Bible that it says it's roughly, it was roughly in
AD 51, roughly around the spring or summer of that time.
While he was over there in Corinth, you know, he's also writing these letters,
you know, to the church, you know, and when I think about Paul,
I immediately can't help but just think about all the amazing things that he got to do.
But I also can't help but be reminded, and this is kind of where really this
(04:34):
book really just struck me, and I don't really see it as an accident that God
put it on my heart, and that is, you know, Paul went through literally all the
seasons, just like when you read in Psalms, you read about David,
he went through every single one of literally everything.
You know, if you can't find something relatable with Paul or with David,
you know, there's something really wrong, you know, because David literally,
(04:56):
he had the up seasons, he had the down seasons, he had the in-between seasons,
he had the times where he was questioning everything.
He had the times where he was, you know, just on the mountaintop and he was
able to worship freely like nothing was going on, like, you know,
like he could just about float in air, you know.
But the point that I'm trying to make though, is that, you know,
Paul was basically just trying to encourage, he was trying to encourage this
(05:17):
church is what he was trying to do.
So it started off in verse one saying, but of the time and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write onto you.
The thing we need to remember is that, you know, a lot of these folks that were
in these, you know, a lot of these folks that were in these new churches were
either new converts, they were Gentile and Jew, both mixed.
So they're not only just learning how to basically work together,
(05:38):
but, you know, After Jesus had died and resurrected...
We, you know, he ushered in the New Testament church. He ushered in the grace
and faith way is what he did.
Now, not saying there wasn't faith probably in the Old Testament,
and I'm not saying that, but what I'm saying is that, you know,
his plan was to merge the two and to make it to where, you know,
what I'm trying to say is he was trying to make it to where literally salvation
(05:58):
was open to all, you know, is what he was trying to do.
And he most certainly did that, you know, so not only are they kind of in a whole different,
you know, they're new, not only did they have like new cultures,
but, you know, not new cultures, but they had new converts,
but they were, you know, learning how to mesh together and work together as a whole unit,
you know, as a church, you know, and I will say, you know, I find some,
(06:19):
I guess you could say I relate to that a lot, you know, because if you look
around in your local body that God has placed you in, you'll find,
you know, you kind of do the same thing,
you know, because what happens when somebody gets saved, you know,
God added that new convert.
And usually if they join up with that church, you know, typically God added
that new convert in there. So you have those that have been in the way for a long time.
And then you have those that what the Bible refers to as babes in Christ,
(06:42):
you know, so this at this particular time, what this church was worrying about
at this time was basically the end of the end of times, you know,
and or when Jesus was going to be coming back, like the timing of that.
And, you know, and I began to think even real deep on that, you know,
and I couldn't help but think, you know, boy, you know, every time we reach
a time in a season, don't aren't we like that?
(07:02):
We start worrying about things that aren't, you know, And it does matter because
one thing we do know is, you know, and I'm not going to say it doesn't matter,
but because it does, but we oftentimes tend to worry about things that we just
don't need to worry about.
What do I mean? Well, the definite here is that we know that Christ is going
to come back and he's going to bring his church home.
Those that are saved by the grace of God, those that are saved by him,
(07:24):
he's going to bring them home.
But we also know, so we know as a definite that he's definitely coming,
but there is one thing that he didn't tell us.
And just like, you know, Paul is going to go and tell them and teach on that later on here.
Is we don't know the exact date and the exact time, because the thing we need to remember,
and I'll tell you this, you know, this is something that I've been learning
a lot lately, you know, and again, I've been kind of in the season where,
(07:46):
you know, we've suffered a lot of loss, you know, and what I'm kind of learning
really, really quick in a hurry, and I'm still learning it.
So even the times that I feel like I understand it the most,
you know, God, you know, kind of shakes it up a little bit.
And I realized that I don't understand it as much as I think.
And that is, you know, timing. God's timing is not what our time is.
You know, the Bible says over there in Peter, a day in the Lord is as a thousand
(08:09):
years, and a thousand years is as in a day.
So, the time that we use, you know, basically, you got to think.
First off, if we start talking about clocks, you know, think about that.
You know, if you were to look up on Google, I didn't go this deep into it,
but the point that I'm trying to make though is if you look up at Google,
you'll find the history of how the clock was made.
You know, but what is time? What is it for? The The main purpose of time is basically how we gauge.
(08:33):
Basically, it's a systematic unit of measure that we use to basically gauge
on when we do things, you know, so when we eat dinner, when we wake up,
you know, what time roughly do we eat breakfast, you know, go to work,
you know, what hours do we spend this?
That's not the way God does because that would limit him. You know,
we got to remember that God's time, you know, I mean, just as sitting through
this podcast, it could have been a thousand years according to God.
(08:55):
It could have been two days according to God. It could be anything. anything God
doesn't operate in our bounds you know so we need to understand that
God is much higher than our ways you know yeah we share
the mind in the heart of Christ yes we do because he dwells his
spirit those that are saved by the grace of God his spirit dwells on the inside
but God's timing is not the same as man's you know man basically kind of invented
you know this time system I guess you could say versus God you know God obviously
(09:18):
isn't limited by man so we know that because he created man you know so we need
to understand you know first off he didn't leave that information.
I guess one of the points that I'm trying to make is that his timing is different,
but he didn't leave that information for man, you know, and I typically try
not to mention too many opinions, you know, when it comes when I start teaching, you know, on scripture.
But this one I am going to share, and that is, you know, I kind of think that
(09:42):
there's some things out there that, you know, where it's too great of knowledge for a man to handle.
And what do I mean by that? Well, just think about this, okay?
And I think God knew this ahead of time. I can't help but think that God probably
knew this ahead of time, because let's just say that, and just like we read
in verse 2, in verse 3, you know, we read there that, you know,
(10:03):
we don't know that he will come at an unexpected time.
But let's just say, hypothetically, we did.
You know, my opinion is that I just don't think that man can handle that type of knowledge.
And the reason why is, you know, just think about it. Would we really live life
the way we do now? We would.
We really wouldn't. You know, our life would be lived in a very different fashion.
Although in some ways, I think that we should live every day like today's the
(10:26):
last day, because, you know, just like he said,
you know, in the scripture and just like he's teaching them,
you know, not to sleep, you know, or in other words, be careless or,
you know, do useless things, you know, while you're, you know,
serving him and living for him, you know, so we ought to treat every day like it is the last day.
However, I don't think that God would leave us that knowledge because,
I mean, I really think it would just drive me and Matt.
(10:47):
I just can't help but think that. I think there's just some knowledge that God
intentionally left out a man, you know, he did, you know, and the reason why
I believe that is because I just think that he would want us to live honestly,
but more importantly, to actually kind of take it in a little bit.
But, you know, if that's not a big picture of mercy, peace and long suffering,
you know, I can't help but even find that in just, you know,
that, you know, in that type of thinking.
(11:09):
So anyways, he goes on and he says in two and three, you know,
for yourselves know perfectly that the day of Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
So, you know, let's just use take it from a literal instance.
You know, God forbid it ever happened. But if a thief were to come and,
you know, rob your house at night, you know, like I said, not trying to go over
the top, but that's kind of the instance on what it's referencing.
It's figurative, obviously. like basically what he means is that it's going
(11:32):
to come at a time that you least expect it.
You know, so that's why it's so important from a salvation perspective for those that are listening.
This is why it is so important that, you know, for sure, without a shadow of
doubt, you know, whether you're saved or whether you're saved or not.
You know, if you're not, you know, I'm thankful that God makes a way to where you can be.
But the beautiful part about it is, you know, look how, you know, those that.
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Here, we'll just keep on going, you know, so he said in three for when they
shall say peace and safety.
So you got a lot of people that are just trying to live comfortably and say,
well, yeah, well, you know, I'm, you know, I don't need to go and serve God the way you guys do.
I don't need to have an order or fashion to my life, you know,
and by order and fashion, what I mean is, you know, you put God first and then
to live for him, you know, people will say, oh, those things are important.
(12:15):
We can put those off. I can wait to get saved.
Those are actually lies straight out of Satan's mouth.
And the reason those are lies straight out of Satan's mouth is because he says
right here in three, for when they shall say peace and safety,
sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape.
You know, one thing that's without a shadow of doubt is just like doctors,
you know, when they try to predict, you know, somebody's end of life or beginning of life.
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I know with women, you know, they have ways of technology is advanced enough
where they can give you a rough due date.
But the truth about it is, though, is that they can't know without a shadow
of doubt when that woman is going to deliver that baby.
I mean, some, you know, I will say they can pinpoint it pretty close,
but they can't say you're definitely going to have this baby on this day.
You know, just like, you know, man can't say God is definitely going to come back on this day.
(13:02):
We got people constantly debating. And, you know, I know that,
you know, just like the Mayans, you know, there was a point in time where the
Mayans have tried to predict, you know, the end of time through their own calendar,
which, again, is another systematic way of measuring, right?
You know, measuring days, you know, They've tried to predict the end of time,
and they've been unsuccessful numerous times.
And it's not just the Mayans. I'm sure there's been other groups of people.
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But the point that I'm trying to make, though, is it is so important that we're
not getting comfortable not serving God.
So that's number one. That's probably towards the Christians.
But number two, people that aren't saved.
It's so important that you don't go and get to the point where you think like,
and the sad part is, is there will be. And it's very, you can't help as a Christian,
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you can't help, but that should really burden you.
That should really hurt your heart and give concern for those that don't believe.
This is why it is so important that we take the ways of God serious and we take salvation serious.
And that's the point that I'm trying to drive home.
But then he goes on and this is kind of where you might be saying,
well, Tim, you know, you mentioned instruction and encouragement in this.
You know, I'm glad that Paul wrote some things like this, because I'll just
(14:10):
tell you this, even in a simple book with simple instruction that you may think
that you've heard many times and heard many messages.
I just can't help but say that it's been a huge encouragement just tonight for
me, you know, in this season that we've been in.
You know, it's I can't help but tell, you know, I'll just tell those that are
listening, you know, I'm not trying to be doomy and gloomy, but,
you know, just dealing with the amount amount of loss that we have had dealt
(14:30):
with in this past August, I've not known how to navigate it. It's been brand new.
Like I've, I've dealt with loss, but not in this kind of amplitude,
I guess you could say, but you know, but truth about it is regardless.
One thing I can say is, yeah, God's timing isn't the same as ours,
but look at this reminder and tell me that you can't find encouragement in this.
Ye are all the children of light. And because remember, he's writing to the
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church over here, the Thessalonica church.
He says, therefore, you know, verse five, he says,
It And they that be drunken are drunken tonight.
But look at 8, what he says. But let us who are of the day be sober,
(15:15):
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ who died for us.
Whether we wake or sleep, we shall... live together with him.
Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.
So he's encouraging them like, look, you know, we're not, you know,
(15:38):
we're not, one thing that the Bible teaches is that, you know,
first off, you know, when you get saved by the grace of God,
there's a sanctification process that happens. Now, what is that sanctification process?
It's literally the act of being set apart.
You know, so there's a justification process. So we know that,
you know, through justification, there's nothing just about us,
you know, for alone without Jesus Christ.
There's nothing just about us because of the sin, our sin nature.
(16:00):
But what does Jesus Christ do when he, when the spirit moves in,
when he saves us by the grace of God, he cleanses us of all sin.
So who but God himself can make us just and, you know, our soul just,
you know, God's the only one that can do that. So that's kind of the act of justification.
Now, when you start talking about sanctification, now we set you apart.
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You know, you are a different people now. What do you mean you're set apart?
Well, you know, just one example that I could say, and I know it's more of a
literal example, but this was something that they did.
I can't help but immediately think of what the Ninevites did,
or the Nazarites did, actually, not the Ninevites, the Nazarites.
The Nazarites, one thing that they were commonly known for is they wouldn't shave their hair.
You know, they would almost take on the role. It was almost like the role of
(16:43):
a high priest, basically.
And I believe, you know, if I remember correctly, I think, You know,
they were almost kind of believed to be priests, but they wouldn't shave their
razor would never touch their head They wouldn't shave their head.
They wouldn't shave their beard. Why was that?
That was their way of sanctifying or in other words, you know setting themself apart and,
you know, for the work that God would have them to do, you know,
so from the spiritual sense, you know, the Spirit of God is what sets us apart,
(17:06):
you know, we no longer have part in the world of sin, you know,
we now have part in Jesus Christ, we are part of His resurrection.
What is His resurrection? His resurrection, you know, was, you know,
just like Revelation says, I've been thinking about this often lately,
blessed are ye who have part in the first resurrection, that first resurrection
was Jesus Christ or the Old Testament church is what it was,
(17:27):
you know, so we have part in that? How do we have part in that resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Well, we literally think about what baptism stands for. When you're born again
into the spirit, you die out to sin and you're raised up in the newness of life.
You know, so there's a spiritual resurrection in your heart that happens.
You know, you're no longer dead.
You're renewed. You're made alive, you know, through, you know,
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what Bible talks about is how we are quickened. We are made alive.
You know, isn't that beautiful? You know, if you don't find encouragement in
that man, you know, I'm telling you're missing out, you know,
and I love books like this.
You know, the times that I'll just be honest with you. Sometimes I read books
like this and I immediately think like, man, you know, I've read this so many
times, you know, it's nothing new.
Why do you want me to teach on it? Why do you want me to read on it?
(18:08):
But then when I go and just do what God would have me to do,
you know, my goodness, it's such a blessing to be able to, you know,
dive in and get this encouragement and know that God knew better than I did.
You know, my goodness, it's awesome.
So then he kind of gives them a little bit of warnings also in these verses.
So verses six and seven, you know, he talks about, you know,
sleeping, you know, I think oftentimes in scripture, you know,
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the word sleep gets misconstrued and kind of twisted in a wrong way. Now, what do I mean?
So there is times where sleep is referenced in the KJV.
You know, it is, there's times where sleep, it references being dead,
but there's also times where sleep is also being used in a figurative sense.
And that figurative sense is sleep is oftentimes like you're just being,
you know, like you're in a slothful slumber almost, like you're in a place where
(18:55):
you're just being, again, careless, you know?
So he warns them in 6 and 7, therefore, let us not sleep and do as others.
So again, remember us talking about being set apart, so do as others,
but let us watch and be sober, you know? So we need to be attentive,
not useless and careless.
You know, God wants us to not be in a slothful slumber.
Now, how do we also, you know, sober? Sober, you know, sober,
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obviously, sometimes, you know, I think, you know, when people read the word
sober, they immediately just
thinking, you know, they immediately just think it's strictly in Bible.
They think it means being, you know, not just being a part of drugs and alcohol,
you know, while that could be part of it.
Being sober is much more than that. How do you keep yourself sober from drunken
thoughts, you know, or drunken ways of the flesh?
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You might say, well, how is that drunken? Well, I could just tell you this,
when I listen to what my flesh and my mind thinks, I find those are things that
are intoxicating to a Christian way.
You might be saying, well, how so? Well, because those are things that can cause you to stumble.
You know, there's, again, you know, we've been going through this season through
our church, you know, lately a lot, and it's been so easy where the devil is just creeping in.
(19:59):
He's trying to get us down. But, you know, one thing I still find encouragement
in is the fact that, you know, yeah, we might be suffering, we might be down
for a minute, but God's still God, you know, God is still on his throne. God is still in control.
You know, I mean, and there's been times that, you know, Satan's,
you know, I guess you could say in a figurative sense has intoxicated my mind
so much to where, you know, I can't even focus on the fact that, you know what?
(20:21):
Yeah, you know, things are pretty tough, but, you know, I'm still going to heaven,
you know, and you might say, well, that's so that's so cliche.
That's so, you know, what every Christian would say. but it's true though,
you know, because think about it, you know, what's the worst that,
you know, yeah, you know, things don't happen in the time that we want them to happen.
You know, things come up when we don't want them to happen.
You know, things come up when we're the least prepared, but you know what?
(20:43):
God is still on the throne. God is still in control.
I am still God's child, you know, through his son, you know,
my goodness, you know, I'm thankful that again, God knows, I know who I am.
I guess you could say, I know what I am without Christ, but I know what I am
in him. My goodness, that's good.
So again, being sober minded is so much more than just abstaining from drugs
and alcohol and that being sober minded is also, what are you consuming?
(21:06):
Think about that. Are we consuming the word of God? Are we consuming what Satan wants us to consume?
If I chew on the thoughts that, yeah, I'm just going to say this,
and I've been saying this a lot because it's just true. When I'm in a time like this.
One of the worst, you know, as somebody that's more of an analytical person,
one thing that I absolutely hate is, you know, sometimes being by myself is
horrible lately, you know, and you might be saying, well, why is that?
(21:29):
It's because I'm just sit there and just lay in my head. You know,
I'm a thinker, you know, so again, those things are intoxicating.
But when I'm distracted and when I'm taking that time and redirecting it towards
God, you know how different, you know, when I'm consuming the things of God,
consuming his word, you don't know what I find.
I find that my ways are more sober. You know, I find that my ways are more directed and there's peace.
(21:51):
You know, it's not a false peace and safety like they were saying,
you know, when, when talking about the coming of Christ in verse three,
but I find peace and safety in the fact that I know that, look,
you know, yeah, I might go get into this, you know, this rut or this slothful slumber,
but, you know, but even God is still merciful during it.
God is still, you know, and I talk about it a lot, but I talk about it a lot
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is because it's just so undeserved, you know, God doesn't need to do it,
but he does, you know, he, he still does.
Now, does that give us a free pass to purposely sin? No, it doesn't.
I believe that God, you know, God is still a righteous God.
I believe that God is still, you know, perfect in every way. Yes.
But the point that I'm trying to make, though, is that if I consume the things
that he has to offer, you know, it's hard to get drunken with the other things
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that are distracting and drunken with all the other things that just don't matter.
You know, I'm thankful for that. But verse eight, he tells them,
but let us who are who are of the day, you know, those that are of of the day.
Again, spiritual, it's talking about those that are saved, you know,
the light, you know, we obviously don't have light without Jesus Christ, you know, be sober.
So there's be sober again, but look what he kind of puts here,
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putting on the breastplate of faith and love.
You know, my goodness, you know, I keep thinking about over there in Exodus
when they were making, you know, Aaron's priestly garments and,
you know, and there was such a very distinct way on how those things were put together.
Like he bore the names, there was a different, you know, brilliant stones that
were put into it, but the names of the children of Israel were all on the breastplate.
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You know, think about this for a minute, you know, so putting on the breastplate
of faith and love, so putting that on, but keeping it closest,
imagine that it's closest to your heart.
You know, God, you know, does God, you know, speak through your mind or does
God speak through your heart?
You know, when it comes to hearing the word of God, and you're going to find
this later on in this chapter, when it comes to hearing the word of God and
really taking in and consuming what he has to say, that means that we got to
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also keep closest to our heart with that breastplate, like, you know, faith.
We got to keep closest to our heart the love that God put in us.
You know, my goodness, you know, like, I'm ashamed to say this,
you know, there's been times that I've kind of questioned, you know,
like, God, do you even love me? You know, do you even care?
You know, but I'm thankful that I got a God that He cares and He does love us
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and reminds us that if we just keep Him closest to our heart more than anything,
you know, it's so much easier to fill, you know, and this is a message I just
heard preached not too long ago, to fill the thoughts that in the motions that
Satan tries to put in our minds, I find that I could just pull.
You know, those things in place
of those, you know, polluting emotions or whatever you want to call them.
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You know, my goodness, I'm thankful for that. And for a helmet,
the hope of salvation, I'm glad I got a hope.
You know, I mean, if you're saved by the grace of God, you have a hope.
You have a definite hope. You don't have a, I think I got a hope.
You have a definite and an absolute in your life.
You know, my goodness, you know, there's times that I forget about that.
You know, you might say you forget about being saved.
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No, not necessarily forget about being saved. I sometimes just lose sight of
the fact of what I do have in Christ.
You know, my goodness, you know, I'm thankful for that. You know,
for God had not appointed us to wrath, so what's the wrath of God?
You know, so obviously in the Old Testament, what they would have to do is,
you know, when, we'll just use sin for an example, they would have to offer
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up a goat or a ram, you know, for a sin offering is what they would have to do.
There was a sacrifice or a payment due to appease and satisfy the wrath of God.
Well, you might be thinking, well, why did God have wrath towards us in the
first place because of sin.
Those are the only things that would satisfy, you know, for a season in the
Old Testament law, they would satisfy the wrath of God.
You know, that's why it was in his nostrils. The smell of the sacrifice was
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in his nostrils as a sweet smelling savor.
The point that I'm trying to make, though, is the sacrifice is what stays the wrath of God.
You know, so again, going back to what I originally say, we have part in that first resurrection.
We have that part in Jesus Christ, you know, the resurrection. We have that part in him.
So I guess what I'm trying to say, though, is God didn't appoint us to wrath
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because of the sacrifice, the sacrifice.
Now I'm talking New Testament. What is the sacrifice?
Jesus Christ is what that is. But to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Boom. Just needed to read the rest of the verse of 9.
So it says in 10, who died for us, whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
You know, so he's acknowledging here. here, what I get from this out of verse
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10 is he's acknowledging, look, there's going to be times where,
you know, we wake, but we're awake and we're on the mountaintop.
I kind of get mountain and valley here is what I kind of get out of that.
Cause there's times where we're awake, we're watchful, we're attentive and we're,
we care and we're just right.
We're, you know, we're just right. We're in the center where God wants us to be.
But as Christians, and this is, again, you know, I'm not going to go on the tangent.
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You know, I, I teach, I had taught a lesson on, you know, why I think that losing
your salvation is a, you know, bogus doctrine and a false doctrine.
I had taught on that, but this scripture, like just the scripture alone,
you know, kind of blows it out of the water, right?
Because it says, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
So just because I fall short, if I go into that slothful slumber,
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again, I still believe that he's talking about with this sleep.
I think he's talking about, he's not talking about death because there was a
point in time, not to get too off topic and on a tangent on this.
When Lazarus, you know, the disciples, when Lazarus had died,
the disciples had, you know, looked to the Lord and said, look,
he sleepeth, you know, and Jesus plainly told them and said, Lazarus is dead.
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So we need to understand, you know, the context of how sleep is being used.
And I think a lot of people don't, you know, I'm not throwing rocks at people,
but we got a lot of people that take it way far out of context and kind of put
their own spin on it. So anyway, I
No matter what season we're in, wake and attentive or get in a slothful sleep,
you know, He's still my Savior. He's still, you know, my Jesus. I am still a son.
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You know, let me ask you this, you know, and this is all I'm going to say about
it, and I promise I'm not going to say more about, you know,
that, is that, look, when your kids are on it or when they're not on it,
you know, when at the times they aren't on it, are they no longer your children?
That's not the way God works.
You know, it's the same, you know, relationship that parents have with their children.
You know, just because your children fail in that, you know,
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or they fall short, it doesn't mean that they're still not your children.
It doesn't mean that you still, that you no longer love them just because they
fall short and have a sin nature, just like the rest of us.
You know, you might be saying, well, wait a minute. Are you saying that children have a sin nature?
Now, let me clarify on that. So there's no confusion that I do believe in an age of accountability.
Now that age, we need to understand that age is not a literal age,
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like age 12 or 10. That's not what it's talking about.
That age of accountability is a point in time when God speaks to one's heart
and holds them accountable for sin.
And you might be saying, well, how does he hold you accountable?
Well, how he holds you accountable is, are you going to believe him with all
your heart or are you going to reject him?
You know, those are the times where God is going to hold you accountable for
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sin because you basically know that you need to be saved, but you choose to
reject it, you know, so plain and simple.
So I'm thankful that no matter what season I'm in, you know,
there's going to come a day I'm going to live together with him. them.
So then he reminds them in verse 11, wherefore comfort yourselves together and
edify one another, even as also ye do.
So it sounds like this is something that he was kind of pointing out.
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Like he's not, again, he's not beating them up. He's not being destructive.
He's being constructive to them. You know, he's giving them instruct,
well-needed instruction that I even need to hear oftentimes.
You know, and he's letting them know, you know, comfort each other with these things.
You know, something else that I see with this, with the church,
you know, not just a local body,
but I find that even when I go to a sister church and I go visit and they all
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have that one thing in common in other words they're saved like i am this we
have the spirit of god that dwells in our heart you want to know the thing that's
so beautiful about that is,
We can comfort one another with no matter what season we're in,
whether we're awake season or whether we're kind of in that sleep season.
I'm thankful that we can comfort each other with the fact that we know that,
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look, hey, despite it all, yeah, it might be tough down here,
but I still get to go to heaven.
You know, it's awesome. You know, it's good. It's good stuff.
And 12, it says, and we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among
you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you.
So basically, respect your elders, you know, is kind of what I get out of that,
not just your elders, but those that work around you, you know,
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everybody has a part in the church.
You know, I don't think it's just strictly the elders, but obviously,
you know, those that are over you, those are those that are over you,
those that are elders, those that are seasoned in the way, you know,
you know, and know who they are, you know, obviously,
yes, but also to, you know, in mana, you know, and they admonish you,
well, what is admonish mean?
So 12 actually admonish means recognize them, you know, because what do they do?
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They give you instruction, they teach you, they help the the younger converts,
you know, grow, you know, so it's so important that we cling together during
all these seasons, you know, I'm thankful for that.
And to esteem them very highly in love, so again, there's that love word again,
for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves.
So he's not saying, you know, go and, you know, cause, you know,
strife and sow discord. That's not what, that's not at all what he said.
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He said, be at peace among yourselves. I'm thankful that God can speak peace to the storm.
You know, don't even get me started on how in the gospels, There was one account
where he spoke directly to the storm and the storm was still you know I'm thankful
for that now we exhort your brother This is verse 14 and it says now we exhort
your brother and warn them that are unruly Comfort the feeble mind and support
the weak be patient towards all men So,
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you know those that are unruly so something that you know These churches had
a very big problem with in scripture is apostasy Now what is apostasy apostasy
basically is you had those that kind of like the pharisees They were apostates
is what they were You know,
but you had a lot of those that, you know, one thing that a lot of them had
is a lot of them were constantly,
I mean, you got to think, especially the locations that some of these new churches were set up,
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they constantly have people that are telling them, oh, well,
you're still supposed to be doing things of the law.
You know, the thing, the very thing that Jesus Christ's sacrifice fulfilled,
you know, you had some doing that.
You had some, you know, basically giving them grief because there was Gentiles
in their church, you know, that they thought that salvation was strictly for
the literal Jew. And it's like, you know, that's not at all what he's saying.
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So warn them that are unruly. So be aware of them, know who they are,
you know, comfort the feeble minded, you know, so who are the feeble minded?
Actually, feeble minded is basically those that are faint hearted,
you know, so, you know, comfort them. So.
Let's just face it. Again, the common theme tonight has been seasons.
No matter what season we're in, we have to comfort one another.
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We've got to lift each other up. Let me ask you this, is your church going to
be, wherever you go, wherever God's placed you, whatever body God has placed you in,
are you going to be more successful if you guys are working against each other
and there's discord and there's divisions and there's a bunch of it being a
fashion show and talking, railing on one another. Does that sound like your
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church is going to be successful?
Does it sound like you're really going to be able to move forward and really
grow close to one another?
No, you know, that's not the way that God set up his church.
You know, the Bible says that a house divided will cannot stand.
You know, you can't say and do one thing because they just contradict, you know, evil and good.
You know, they can't hold hands together. It's just impossible.
You know, so again, you know, now exhort your brother and warn them that are
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unruly, so be aware of them. They had a lot of those, again, around Bible times.
Comfort the feeble-minded. Support the weak.
You know, oftentimes, you know, and I'll just say this, you know,
I find myself guilty of this at times, but when it says to support the weak,
how quickly are we to go and be like, man, you know, they're just so weak.
They're just tossed to and fro with every little thing, you know,
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and we're quick to try to rail on them when in reality we should be trying to lift them up.
You know, I'll say sometimes, you know, because again, the intoxicating thoughts,
the intrusive thoughts, they sometimes come and we have a tendency to try to
puff ourselves up, you know, when in reality, we ought to be supporting one another.
We ought to be loving one another because Jesus Christ put that down on the inside.
Be patient towards all men. Look, I'm just going to tell you and be straight, honest with you.
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You know, I'll just tell you one of my things that is not my strong suit is patience.
I've got to pray a very great deal and I'm ashamed that I have to.
But if it wasn't for God, you know, I wouldn't have it.
But there are a lot of times, you know, he says, be patient towards all men.
You know, I think it is very important.
And all of these, you got to think, all of these are qualities that Jesus Christ himself had.
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So if we're patterning ourselves after Jesus Christ and doing these things,
look, he supported the weak. I mean, for crying out loud, he healed them, right?
You know, he healed the weak. He healed the ones that had infirmities,
the ones that had things that they couldn't help themselves for.
You know, I think that's so important. Yeah, obviously, we're not physically
laying hands on people and healing them, but we can most certainly be a contributing
factor in their healing, right? And what do you mean by that?
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You might be saying, well, preacher, are you saying, can you as a man save them?
No, that's not what I'm talking about.
But I can certainly support them. I can certainly encourage them.
I can certainly love on them. I can lift them up. And when I do that, guess what happens?
You know, you see God just continue to heal and move on the situation,
you know, and then what happens in return?
God blesses you for being a contributing factor, you know, but you see how it works.
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You know, it's a, you know, again, you know, Bible says a threefold cord is
not easily broken. That's like one of my go-to scriptures.
Why is that? The three folds in a braid, you know, think about it.
What are they? I spiritualize it. I say, look, it's the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Trinity.
Those are the things that knit us together and make us be able to clench close to one another.
You know, think about it in fishing line, you know, a braid.
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Are you going to be able to pull apart,
you know, when you start pulling on the axial strength of a string and pulling
in opposite directions,
what's going to have more strength, a single fiber braid or a braid where you
have three fibers that are clenching and tightening, the more and more that
you pull and add those opposite forces against each other, it's going to be the braid.
It's going to have a much stronger axial tensile strength. Yeah, absolutely.
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So the point is those cling together, cling to Christ, follow the spirit.
So then he goes on and he says, see that none render evil for evil unto any
man, but ever follow that which
is good, both among yourselves and to all men. So don't be revengeful.
You know, don't, you know, If somebody does evil to you, I will say,
oftentimes our flesh isn't like that.
It wants to do the exact opposite of...
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Of what, you know, of this. We want to be revengeful, but even the Bible teaches
that, you know, revenge, and it might be, it might use a different word,
but basically revenge is the Lord's, you know, is what he says. Rejoice evermore.
I think that's a very important component in worship.
You know, there's a time to rejoice. There's a time to weep.
You know, there's a time and a season for everything, you know,
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but the most important thing is though, is that even no matter whether we're
on the mountaintop or we're in their valley, you know, we can still rejoice.
And why is that? It's because of the lily of the valley. My goodness.
I'm thankful that we got a God that's familiar with the valleys and carried everything for us.
Pray without ceasing. You know, I think it's very straightforward, very black and white.
You know, you can never pray enough, right? You can't pray enough.
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You know, even in the times where I feel like I've prayed a lot,
you know, I'm just going to say it still probably is not enough.
So praying without ceasing means praying without stopping. Now,
is it your words and your your prayer? No, it's with your heart.
You know, you're constantly praying, you know, you know, all through,
you know, and if you're doing a conscientious effort to do everything you can
and to recognize, look, I don't pray enough, but I am going to do whatever I
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can to pray as much as I can. I think God will honor and bless that. Absolutely.
I mean, think about it. What's, what's the beautiful part about prayer?
You know, prayer is our direct line of communication with God.
You know, my goodness, I, I don't know about anybody else, but even,
you know, I, I love my conversations with God, you know, and I'm thankful for that.
So then he says, as in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in
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Christ Jesus concerning you.
So, I mean, just like, you know, he, Jesus Christ, my goodness,
I'm pretty sure he gave thanks when he broke the bread with his disciples.
My goodness, you know, even in a time like that, and when he was about to do,
you know, my goodness, you know, I begin to think, how can you give thanks in a time like that?
It's because he's God, number one, but God in the flesh. But number two,
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the point of the matter is, is because he knew that he was sent for a purpose.
You know, we as God's people, we have a purpose because of the spirit that's down on the inside.
This is, and here we go. Perfect lead in 19, quench not the spirit.
You know, my goodness, you know, I think this is one that needs to be taught
and preached a lot more, you know, obviously it needs to be done in the spirit,
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but it needs to be taught and said more in the, in the churches.
And what do you mean by that?
When you quench something, you know, okay, so quenching, quenching basically
means putting out a fire, you know, my goodness, like if I walk,
So let's just say, I mean, and I would never do this clearly,
and this is a kind of an off-the-wall example, but it kind of illustrates the point.
But let's just say that the service is really, really on fire.
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People are worshiping. People are shouting. People are testifying.
People are preaching, singing the praises of God. And then somebody just walks
in and slams the door really loud.
Like I said, I know it's an extreme, probably ridiculous example.
Wouldn't that kind of just quench the spirit, just put it out?
Like, I'm not saying it's not, you know, going anywhere.
But, you know, the thing we need to remember is that everything we say and we
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do has adverse actions, you know, has has a cause. There's a cause and there's an effect.
You know, the cause is if you do something that just brings the spirit down.
I believe that can happen as a church body.
You know, if one's not in the one or more are not in the right frame of mind or right frame of heart.
But number two, I think it can happen as an individual as well.
You might be saying, well, how so? So, well, I could do things where the spirit
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is high and really working really strong, and I could do some stupid things
that really just kind of bring it, I guess you could say, down.
And you might be saying, well, preacher, are you saying that you have to work anything up? No.
But what I'm saying is I ought not to do things that work against God because
those are the things that quench and put out the spirit.
Now, what do you mean? Well, I'll give you an example.
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So in metal, metalworking, you know, in engineering school, one thing I remember,
I'll just tell you, you know, one thing I had, we had to learn a little bit
of was, you know, and I never can say the word right, metallurgy,
or I can never say it right, but we had to learn basically the properties of
metals, you know, and just let this kind of resonate with you with it.
So what you could do is that basically what you do with these metals,
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you know, because they have a microstructure that, you know,
basically defines the strength of this metal.
So anyway, when you heat a metal up, you know, to its glowing hot point,
and you go and you immediately put it in what they call a quench,
you know, basically, which is like this vat of water, you're rapidly bringing the temperature down.
It changes the properties of the metal, doesn't it? You know, it can weaken that.
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So you think about that from, you know, from like a Christian standpoint,
you know, the more that we do things that work against the spirit,
the more that it will affect our walk and more that it will affect our life,
the more that it will affect what's going on in the church, you know?
So it's so important that we do things in the spirit and not do things in ourself,
because those are things
that, you know, I mean, I can't tell you, you know, and I'm not going to say specifics,
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but there's been times that I've been in services out and about,
you know, I'm not, and I'm not talking about Shady Grove, obviously,
but there's been times where I've been out and about places and sometimes people
do things in themselves and it's like, the spirit is just there.
It's working, it's moving, it's blessing.
And then as soon as like somebody says something in themselves,
it just makes it go cold as a, feel cold as a refrigerator. It just kills it.
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You know, the point that I'm trying to make though is, you know,
it's so important that we don't like drive out the things that matter.
We don't add things in that weaken us.
Think about it. When you go and take metal and it's in that glowing hot form
and you drop it in a quench, sometimes it can really weaken the metal.
They always actually are. My metallurgy teacher, my metal working teacher,
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I don't know how, again, I'm pushing that word.
One thing he said is if you want to cheat in softball, take an aluminum bat,
heat it up in the oven at 350 for about 10, 15 15 minutes and then immediately
drop it in the quench and then go and take it on the softball field and swing
it. You'll break the bat.
But you see, the point there is that if we let these external things get in
the way of us, those are things that quench the spirit.
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Those are things that we ought not to do that weaken us.
You know, I'd rather be strong in God and just be so full of the Holy Ghost
that it just drips on one another. That's the way we need to be.
Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. So don't just talk about it. Don't put it on a show.
You know, hold fast to that which is good. You know, show it, though.
Prove it. You know, prove that you're doing that. Now, how do you prove that?
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Do you need to go and get a billboard or megaphone and do those things?
No, you know, you prove it by, you know, not just talking about it,
but also living it. You know, I think that's very important.
Holding fast that which is good. So hanging on really quickly to,
you know, the things that are good, which is all through Christ,
you know, the qualities and the fruits of the spirit.
Abstain. This is a big one that I think needs to be driven home more.
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Abstain from all appearance of evil.
You know, and actually my wife and I were just talking about this last night,
you know, And I think this is a good scripture because the more that we kind
of take on this attitude, you kind of take on more of a, I'd rather play it safe than sorry.
And what do you mean by that? Well, I would rather do, I would rather play,
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like if I have to question, like actually this is something one of my elders
have said before, but if I'm about to go and do something
and I have to constantly question it and it doesn't bring me peace,
I pretty much have my answer.
You might be saying, well, how so? So it's because if you have to question it
to the point to where you're wondering if you're about to sin or not,
it's probably better safe to just abstain from the appearance of it.
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If it looks like that and it brings you, the spirit brings you conviction about
it, don't do it. You know, plain and simple, you know, very black and white.
In the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly, like everything we've been talking about.
And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you. And this is something, this is a verse 24 is
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one that we really need to be reminded a lot.
Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.
You know, thankful for that. You know, I'm thankful that we got a God that's faithful.
You know, name a time where he hasn't. But, you know, the times where,
again, Satan puts those intrusive thoughts in there and tries to make you believe
that, you know, that he isn't faithful. My goodness, he is faithful.
He's faithful that called you out of, you know, out of sin, right?
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Because you have to be called to get saved, right? But he called you out of
that and he pulled you out of that.
But he also did it too, right? There was a action towards it.
You know, I'm thankful for a God that'll do it.
Brethren, pray for us. You know, so again, Paul, you know, in his missionary
journeys, not only did he need prayer, but that's also, again,
just like you said, pray without ceasing is something we all do.
Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. Again, loving the brethren.
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I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
I'm just thankful for this verse, and I'm really thankful tonight. I just will testify.
I know I've talked a lot, and I know it's been a long podcast,
so I trust and pray that you maybe learned something, or I trust and pray that it's encouraged you.
Like I said, our church has been kind of in this really difficult season.
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You know, it's been very up and down and all over the place.
And I know some of the podcast episodes have been all over the place,
but I know that's not going to be like that forever.
But my goodness, I just want to tell you all how much we appreciate all of you.
And I pray that the messages, you know, my goodness, you know,
I still go back and I won't listen to myself because that's a me thing,
but I'll get back and I'll listen to a lot of these messages that,
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you know, Brother Stephen has uploaded on this podcast channel.
And I'm I'm telling you, you know, I can't tell you, you know,
it's so awesome that you have a place that you can go back to where you can
listen to that and God can just bless you all over again and over and over again.
I'm thankful for that. But until next time.
Welcome back to the Gospel Truth Podcast. Certainly thankful to get on here
and to be able to take another opportunity to upload another episode.
First off, we wanted to start off by saying that we appreciate all of our listeners
and wanted to take a moment to apologize for how inconsistently we've been uploading lately.
Not going to lie, the church has been kind of going through a pretty rough season
(00:20):
this past month. It's been all over the place.
So again, we just want to thank all of our listeners for all the patience and
all of you that have tuned in very faithfully, you know, more than anything,
you know, we don't obviously do this for the fame.
We don't do it for, you know, we don't do it for anything like,
I guess you could say of that nature, but more than, more than anything,
you know, I know that when brother Steven started this podcast.
(00:41):
You know, the point of this was, you know, to get the gospel out,
you know, and that's the whole point, you know, and I'm thankful that God isn't
limited or put into a box to where he can't use certain tools to get his message
out. And I'm thankful for that.
So I know it's a little bit of a different upload tonight, you know,
so I just, if you're tuning in, I just, I just ask that you bear with me,
but I hope and pray that more than anything, that this is a blessing.
(01:01):
So we're actually going to get on here.
And, uh, we, you know, with, you know, like we had already mentioned before
with, you know, the season that we've kind of been in, you know,
I'm just not going to lie to you, you know, this past month of August,
it's kind of a, at least for my family, it's been a pretty rough one.
And, uh, you know, and I find that, you know, when I'm up and down in all these seasons,
you know, I start looking at the scriptures, something that I kind of mentioned
(01:22):
in my adult Sunday school classes, it was not too long ago, is that we get into
these seasons and we oftentimes, you know, begin to start looking at the scriptures from different angles.
You know, sometimes we can look at the scripture from the angle that God wants
us to look at it from, but sometimes too, even in the midst of our trials,
you know, I won't lie to you, there's times where we have a tendency to try
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to look at all of the things, not just his word, but look at the things of God
the wrong way at times, you know, and what I mean is from the wrong angle.
And Satan being a deceiver, that's actually what he does and what he works,
not to give him any credit, but that's what he does best.
You know, so with that, you know, with these seasons that we've been in lately,
you know, God just kind of really brought my heart over here to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
(02:05):
And, you know, I will say when you read through this and you start to dive into
it, I'm just going to say it's probably familiar.
You probably think, oh man, Tim, you know, I've, you know, heard,
you know, many times, many messages and many lessons out of this scripture.
But, you know, one thing I will tell you is that, you know, just like,
you know, the word of God teaches us and just like, you know,
how Jesus, you know, spent the time to teach the disciples.
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I think it's important that we always have an open heart towards,
you know, instruction that God would give us.
You know, first off, you know, the best part about the word of God is it's a
roadmap for our entire life.
It literally has everything for all of the seasons that we will encounter.
It literally has everything in it. You know, and I'm thankful that more importantly,
if we're looking to the spirit, God knows exactly what scriptures to give us
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in each of those seasons.
You know, it's applicable for everything, you know. So First Thessalonians chapter
five is where we're going to be at. So we'll go ahead and actually start reading.
And it says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren.
You have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the
day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon
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them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
You are all the children of light and the children of the day.
We are not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
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But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith
and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.
So we'll go ahead and stop there and just go ahead and just start breaking down
(03:53):
these verses. verses, you know, I'll try not to go too much,
you know, verse by verse, you know, but first off, I think it's important to
understand, you know, and you might be saying, well, Tim, you know,
how does it, what does this have to do with seasons?
So the Thessalonian church, you know, first off, let's just talk about where it started actually.
So when Paul began to write these epistles, we need to remember that this was
actually during his time in Corinth.
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And actually I found in my Bible that it says it's roughly, it was roughly in
AD 51, roughly around the spring or summer of that time.
While he was over there in Corinth, you know, he's also writing these letters,
you know, to the church, you know, and when I think about Paul,
I immediately can't help but just think about all the amazing things that he got to do.
But I also can't help but be reminded, and this is kind of where really this
(04:34):
book really just struck me, and I don't really see it as an accident that God
put it on my heart, and that is, you know, Paul went through literally all the
seasons, just like when you read in Psalms, you read about David,
he went through every single one of literally everything.
You know, if you can't find something relatable with Paul or with David,
you know, there's something really wrong, you know, because David literally,
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he had the up seasons, he had the down seasons, he had the in-between seasons,
he had the times where he was questioning everything.
He had the times where he was, you know, just on the mountaintop and he was
able to worship freely like nothing was going on, like, you know,
like he could just about float in air, you know.
But the point that I'm trying to make though, is that, you know,
Paul was basically just trying to encourage, he was trying to encourage this
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church is what he was trying to do.
So it started off in verse one saying, but of the time and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need that I write onto you.
The thing we need to remember is that, you know, a lot of these folks that were
in these, you know, a lot of these folks that were in these new churches were
either new converts, they were Gentile and Jew, both mixed.
So they're not only just learning how to basically work together,
(05:38):
but, you know, After Jesus had died and resurrected...
We, you know, he ushered in the New Testament church. He ushered in the grace
and faith way is what he did.
Now, not saying there wasn't faith probably in the Old Testament,
and I'm not saying that, but what I'm saying is that, you know,
his plan was to merge the two and to make it to where, you know,
what I'm trying to say is he was trying to make it to where literally salvation
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was open to all, you know, is what he was trying to do.
And he most certainly did that, you know, so not only are they kind of in a whole different,
you know, they're new, not only did they have like new cultures,
but, you know, not new cultures, but they had new converts,
but they were, you know, learning how to mesh together and work together as a whole unit,
you know, as a church, you know, and I will say, you know, I find some,
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I guess you could say I relate to that a lot, you know, because if you look
around in your local body that God has placed you in, you'll find,
you know, you kind of do the same thing,
you know, because what happens when somebody gets saved, you know,
God added that new convert.
And usually if they join up with that church, you know, typically God added
that new convert in there. So you have those that have been in the way for a long time.
And then you have those that what the Bible refers to as babes in Christ,
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you know, so this at this particular time, what this church was worrying about
at this time was basically the end of the end of times, you know,
and or when Jesus was going to be coming back, like the timing of that.
And, you know, and I began to think even real deep on that, you know,
and I couldn't help but think, you know, boy, you know, every time we reach
a time in a season, don't aren't we like that?
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We start worrying about things that aren't, you know, And it does matter because
one thing we do know is, you know, and I'm not going to say it doesn't matter,
but because it does, but we oftentimes tend to worry about things that we just
don't need to worry about.
What do I mean? Well, the definite here is that we know that Christ is going
to come back and he's going to bring his church home.
Those that are saved by the grace of God, those that are saved by him,
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he's going to bring them home.
But we also know, so we know as a definite that he's definitely coming,
but there is one thing that he didn't tell us.
And just like, you know, Paul is going to go and tell them and teach on that later on here.
Is we don't know the exact date and the exact time, because the thing we need to remember,
and I'll tell you this, you know, this is something that I've been learning
a lot lately, you know, and again, I've been kind of in the season where,
(07:46):
you know, we've suffered a lot of loss, you know, and what I'm kind of learning
really, really quick in a hurry, and I'm still learning it.
So even the times that I feel like I understand it the most,
you know, God, you know, kind of shakes it up a little bit.
And I realized that I don't understand it as much as I think.
And that is, you know, timing. God's timing is not what our time is.
You know, the Bible says over there in Peter, a day in the Lord is as a thousand
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years, and a thousand years is as in a day.
So, the time that we use, you know, basically, you got to think.
First off, if we start talking about clocks, you know, think about that.
You know, if you were to look up on Google, I didn't go this deep into it,
but the point that I'm trying to make though is if you look up at Google,
you'll find the history of how the clock was made.
You know, but what is time? What is it for? The The main purpose of time is basically how we gauge.
(08:33):
Basically, it's a systematic unit of measure that we use to basically gauge
on when we do things, you know, so when we eat dinner, when we wake up,
you know, what time roughly do we eat breakfast, you know, go to work,
you know, what hours do we spend this?
That's not the way God does because that would limit him. You know,
we got to remember that God's time, you know, I mean, just as sitting through
this podcast, it could have been a thousand years according to God.
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It could have been two days according to God. It could be anything. anything God
doesn't operate in our bounds you know so we need to understand that
God is much higher than our ways you know yeah we share
the mind in the heart of Christ yes we do because he dwells his
spirit those that are saved by the grace of God his spirit dwells on the inside
but God's timing is not the same as man's you know man basically kind of invented
you know this time system I guess you could say versus God you know God obviously
(09:18):
isn't limited by man so we know that because he created man you know so we need
to understand you know first off he didn't leave that information.
I guess one of the points that I'm trying to make is that his timing is different,
but he didn't leave that information for man, you know, and I typically try
not to mention too many opinions, you know, when it comes when I start teaching, you know, on scripture.
But this one I am going to share, and that is, you know, I kind of think that
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there's some things out there that, you know, where it's too great of knowledge for a man to handle.
And what do I mean by that? Well, just think about this, okay?
And I think God knew this ahead of time. I can't help but think that God probably
knew this ahead of time, because let's just say that, and just like we read
in verse 2, in verse 3, you know, we read there that, you know,
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we don't know that he will come at an unexpected time.
But let's just say, hypothetically, we did.
You know, my opinion is that I just don't think that man can handle that type of knowledge.
And the reason why is, you know, just think about it. Would we really live life
the way we do now? We would.
We really wouldn't. You know, our life would be lived in a very different fashion.
Although in some ways, I think that we should live every day like today's the
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last day, because, you know, just like he said,
you know, in the scripture and just like he's teaching them,
you know, not to sleep, you know, or in other words, be careless or,
you know, do useless things, you know, while you're, you know,
serving him and living for him, you know, so we ought to treat every day like it is the last day.
However, I don't think that God would leave us that knowledge because,
I mean, I really think it would just drive me and Matt.
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I just can't help but think that. I think there's just some knowledge that God
intentionally left out a man, you know, he did, you know, and the reason why
I believe that is because I just think that he would want us to live honestly,
but more importantly, to actually kind of take it in a little bit.
But, you know, if that's not a big picture of mercy, peace and long suffering,
you know, I can't help but even find that in just, you know,
that, you know, in that type of thinking.
(11:09):
So anyways, he goes on and he says in two and three, you know,
for yourselves know perfectly that the day of Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
So, you know, let's just use take it from a literal instance.
You know, God forbid it ever happened. But if a thief were to come and,
you know, rob your house at night, you know, like I said, not trying to go over
the top, but that's kind of the instance on what it's referencing.
It's figurative, obviously. like basically what he means is that it's going
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to come at a time that you least expect it.
You know, so that's why it's so important from a salvation perspective for those that are listening.
This is why it is so important that, you know, for sure, without a shadow of
doubt, you know, whether you're saved or whether you're saved or not.
You know, if you're not, you know, I'm thankful that God makes a way to where you can be.
But the beautiful part about it is, you know, look how, you know, those that.
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Here, we'll just keep on going, you know, so he said in three for when they
shall say peace and safety.
So you got a lot of people that are just trying to live comfortably and say,
well, yeah, well, you know, I'm, you know, I don't need to go and serve God the way you guys do.
I don't need to have an order or fashion to my life, you know,
and by order and fashion, what I mean is, you know, you put God first and then
to live for him, you know, people will say, oh, those things are important.
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We can put those off. I can wait to get saved.
Those are actually lies straight out of Satan's mouth.
And the reason those are lies straight out of Satan's mouth is because he says
right here in three, for when they shall say peace and safety,
sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape.
You know, one thing that's without a shadow of doubt is just like doctors,
you know, when they try to predict, you know, somebody's end of life or beginning of life.
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I know with women, you know, they have ways of technology is advanced enough
where they can give you a rough due date.
But the truth about it is, though, is that they can't know without a shadow
of doubt when that woman is going to deliver that baby.
I mean, some, you know, I will say they can pinpoint it pretty close,
but they can't say you're definitely going to have this baby on this day.
You know, just like, you know, man can't say God is definitely going to come back on this day.
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We got people constantly debating. And, you know, I know that,
you know, just like the Mayans, you know, there was a point in time where the
Mayans have tried to predict, you know, the end of time through their own calendar,
which, again, is another systematic way of measuring, right?
You know, measuring days, you know, They've tried to predict the end of time,
and they've been unsuccessful numerous times.
And it's not just the Mayans. I'm sure there's been other groups of people.
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But the point that I'm trying to make, though, is it is so important that we're
not getting comfortable not serving God.
So that's number one. That's probably towards the Christians.
But number two, people that aren't saved.
It's so important that you don't go and get to the point where you think like,
and the sad part is, is there will be. And it's very, you can't help as a Christian,
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you can't help, but that should really burden you.
That should really hurt your heart and give concern for those that don't believe.
This is why it is so important that we take the ways of God serious and we take salvation serious.
And that's the point that I'm trying to drive home.
But then he goes on and this is kind of where you might be saying,
well, Tim, you know, you mentioned instruction and encouragement in this.
You know, I'm glad that Paul wrote some things like this, because I'll just
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tell you this, even in a simple book with simple instruction that you may think
that you've heard many times and heard many messages.
I just can't help but say that it's been a huge encouragement just tonight for
me, you know, in this season that we've been in.
You know, it's I can't help but tell, you know, I'll just tell those that are
listening, you know, I'm not trying to be doomy and gloomy, but,
you know, just dealing with the amount amount of loss that we have had dealt
(14:30):
with in this past August, I've not known how to navigate it. It's been brand new.
Like I've, I've dealt with loss, but not in this kind of amplitude,
I guess you could say, but you know, but truth about it is regardless.
One thing I can say is, yeah, God's timing isn't the same as ours,
but look at this reminder and tell me that you can't find encouragement in this.
Ye are all the children of light. And because remember, he's writing to the
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church over here, the Thessalonica church.
He says, therefore, you know, verse five, he says,
It And they that be drunken are drunken tonight.
But look at 8, what he says. But let us who are of the day be sober,
(15:15):
putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ who died for us.
Whether we wake or sleep, we shall... live together with him.
Wherefore, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.
So he's encouraging them like, look, you know, we're not, you know,
(15:38):
we're not, one thing that the Bible teaches is that, you know,
first off, you know, when you get saved by the grace of God,
there's a sanctification process that happens. Now, what is that sanctification process?
It's literally the act of being set apart.
You know, so there's a justification process. So we know that,
you know, through justification, there's nothing just about us,
you know, for alone without Jesus Christ.
There's nothing just about us because of the sin, our sin nature.
(16:00):
But what does Jesus Christ do when he, when the spirit moves in,
when he saves us by the grace of God, he cleanses us of all sin.
So who but God himself can make us just and, you know, our soul just,
you know, God's the only one that can do that. So that's kind of the act of justification.
Now, when you start talking about sanctification, now we set you apart.
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You know, you are a different people now. What do you mean you're set apart?
Well, you know, just one example that I could say, and I know it's more of a
literal example, but this was something that they did.
I can't help but immediately think of what the Ninevites did,
or the Nazarites did, actually, not the Ninevites, the Nazarites.
The Nazarites, one thing that they were commonly known for is they wouldn't shave their hair.
You know, they would almost take on the role. It was almost like the role of
(16:43):
a high priest, basically.
And I believe, you know, if I remember correctly, I think, You know,
they were almost kind of believed to be priests, but they wouldn't shave their
razor would never touch their head They wouldn't shave their head.
They wouldn't shave their beard. Why was that?
That was their way of sanctifying or in other words, you know setting themself apart and,
you know, for the work that God would have them to do, you know,
so from the spiritual sense, you know, the Spirit of God is what sets us apart,
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you know, we no longer have part in the world of sin, you know,
we now have part in Jesus Christ, we are part of His resurrection.
What is His resurrection? His resurrection, you know, was, you know,
just like Revelation says, I've been thinking about this often lately,
blessed are ye who have part in the first resurrection, that first resurrection
was Jesus Christ or the Old Testament church is what it was,
(17:27):
you know, so we have part in that? How do we have part in that resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Well, we literally think about what baptism stands for. When you're born again
into the spirit, you die out to sin and you're raised up in the newness of life.
You know, so there's a spiritual resurrection in your heart that happens.
You know, you're no longer dead.
You're renewed. You're made alive, you know, through, you know,
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what Bible talks about is how we are quickened. We are made alive.
You know, isn't that beautiful? You know, if you don't find encouragement in
that man, you know, I'm telling you're missing out, you know,
and I love books like this.
You know, the times that I'll just be honest with you. Sometimes I read books
like this and I immediately think like, man, you know, I've read this so many
times, you know, it's nothing new.
Why do you want me to teach on it? Why do you want me to read on it?
(18:08):
But then when I go and just do what God would have me to do,
you know, my goodness, it's such a blessing to be able to, you know,
dive in and get this encouragement and know that God knew better than I did.
You know, my goodness, it's awesome.
So then he kind of gives them a little bit of warnings also in these verses.
So verses six and seven, you know, he talks about, you know,
sleeping, you know, I think oftentimes in scripture, you know,
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the word sleep gets misconstrued and kind of twisted in a wrong way. Now, what do I mean?
So there is times where sleep is referenced in the KJV.
You know, it is, there's times where sleep, it references being dead,
but there's also times where sleep is also being used in a figurative sense.
And that figurative sense is sleep is oftentimes like you're just being,
you know, like you're in a slothful slumber almost, like you're in a place where
(18:55):
you're just being, again, careless, you know?
So he warns them in 6 and 7, therefore, let us not sleep and do as others.
So again, remember us talking about being set apart, so do as others,
but let us watch and be sober, you know? So we need to be attentive,
not useless and careless.
You know, God wants us to not be in a slothful slumber.
Now, how do we also, you know, sober? Sober, you know, sober,
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obviously, sometimes, you know, I think, you know, when people read the word
sober, they immediately just
thinking, you know, they immediately just think it's strictly in Bible.
They think it means being, you know, not just being a part of drugs and alcohol,
you know, while that could be part of it.
Being sober is much more than that. How do you keep yourself sober from drunken
thoughts, you know, or drunken ways of the flesh?
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You might say, well, how is that drunken? Well, I could just tell you this,
when I listen to what my flesh and my mind thinks, I find those are things that
are intoxicating to a Christian way.
You might be saying, well, how so? Well, because those are things that can cause you to stumble.
You know, there's, again, you know, we've been going through this season through
our church, you know, lately a lot, and it's been so easy where the devil is just creeping in.
(19:59):
He's trying to get us down. But, you know, one thing I still find encouragement
in is the fact that, you know, yeah, we might be suffering, we might be down
for a minute, but God's still God, you know, God is still on his throne. God is still in control.
You know, I mean, and there's been times that, you know, Satan's,
you know, I guess you could say in a figurative sense has intoxicated my mind
so much to where, you know, I can't even focus on the fact that, you know what?
(20:21):
Yeah, you know, things are pretty tough, but, you know, I'm still going to heaven,
you know, and you might say, well, that's so that's so cliche.
That's so, you know, what every Christian would say. but it's true though,
you know, because think about it, you know, what's the worst that,
you know, yeah, you know, things don't happen in the time that we want them to happen.
You know, things come up when we don't want them to happen.
You know, things come up when we're the least prepared, but you know what?
(20:43):
God is still on the throne. God is still in control.
I am still God's child, you know, through his son, you know,
my goodness, you know, I'm thankful that again, God knows, I know who I am.
I guess you could say, I know what I am without Christ, but I know what I am
in him. My goodness, that's good.
So again, being sober minded is so much more than just abstaining from drugs
and alcohol and that being sober minded is also, what are you consuming?
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Think about that. Are we consuming the word of God? Are we consuming what Satan wants us to consume?
If I chew on the thoughts that, yeah, I'm just going to say this,
and I've been saying this a lot because it's just true. When I'm in a time like this.
One of the worst, you know, as somebody that's more of an analytical person,
one thing that I absolutely hate is, you know, sometimes being by myself is
horrible lately, you know, and you might be saying, well, why is that?
(21:29):
It's because I'm just sit there and just lay in my head. You know,
I'm a thinker, you know, so again, those things are intoxicating.
But when I'm distracted and when I'm taking that time and redirecting it towards
God, you know how different, you know, when I'm consuming the things of God,
consuming his word, you don't know what I find.
I find that my ways are more sober. You know, I find that my ways are more directed and there's peace.
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You know, it's not a false peace and safety like they were saying,
you know, when, when talking about the coming of Christ in verse three,
but I find peace and safety in the fact that I know that, look,
you know, yeah, I might go get into this, you know, this rut or this slothful slumber,
but, you know, but even God is still merciful during it.
God is still, you know, and I talk about it a lot, but I talk about it a lot
(22:12):
is because it's just so undeserved, you know, God doesn't need to do it,
but he does, you know, he, he still does.
Now, does that give us a free pass to purposely sin? No, it doesn't.
I believe that God, you know, God is still a righteous God.
I believe that God is still, you know, perfect in every way. Yes.
But the point that I'm trying to make, though, is that if I consume the things
that he has to offer, you know, it's hard to get drunken with the other things
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that are distracting and drunken with all the other things that just don't matter.
You know, I'm thankful for that. But verse eight, he tells them,
but let us who are who are of the day, you know, those that are of of the day.
Again, spiritual, it's talking about those that are saved, you know,
the light, you know, we obviously don't have light without Jesus Christ, you know, be sober.
So there's be sober again, but look what he kind of puts here,
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putting on the breastplate of faith and love.
You know, my goodness, you know, I keep thinking about over there in Exodus
when they were making, you know, Aaron's priestly garments and,
you know, and there was such a very distinct way on how those things were put together.
Like he bore the names, there was a different, you know, brilliant stones that
were put into it, but the names of the children of Israel were all on the breastplate.
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You know, think about this for a minute, you know, so putting on the breastplate
of faith and love, so putting that on, but keeping it closest,
imagine that it's closest to your heart.
You know, God, you know, does God, you know, speak through your mind or does
God speak through your heart?
You know, when it comes to hearing the word of God, and you're going to find
this later on in this chapter, when it comes to hearing the word of God and
really taking in and consuming what he has to say, that means that we got to
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also keep closest to our heart with that breastplate, like, you know, faith.
We got to keep closest to our heart the love that God put in us.
You know, my goodness, you know, like, I'm ashamed to say this,
you know, there's been times that I've kind of questioned, you know,
like, God, do you even love me? You know, do you even care?
You know, but I'm thankful that I got a God that He cares and He does love us
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and reminds us that if we just keep Him closest to our heart more than anything,
you know, it's so much easier to fill, you know, and this is a message I just
heard preached not too long ago, to fill the thoughts that in the motions that
Satan tries to put in our minds, I find that I could just pull.
You know, those things in place
of those, you know, polluting emotions or whatever you want to call them.
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You know, my goodness, I'm thankful for that. And for a helmet,
the hope of salvation, I'm glad I got a hope.
You know, I mean, if you're saved by the grace of God, you have a hope.
You have a definite hope. You don't have a, I think I got a hope.
You have a definite and an absolute in your life.
You know, my goodness, you know, there's times that I forget about that.
You know, you might say you forget about being saved.
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No, not necessarily forget about being saved. I sometimes just lose sight of
the fact of what I do have in Christ.
You know, my goodness, you know, I'm thankful for that. You know,
for God had not appointed us to wrath, so what's the wrath of God?
You know, so obviously in the Old Testament, what they would have to do is,
you know, when, we'll just use sin for an example, they would have to offer
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up a goat or a ram, you know, for a sin offering is what they would have to do.
There was a sacrifice or a payment due to appease and satisfy the wrath of God.
Well, you might be thinking, well, why did God have wrath towards us in the
first place because of sin.
Those are the only things that would satisfy, you know, for a season in the
Old Testament law, they would satisfy the wrath of God.
You know, that's why it was in his nostrils. The smell of the sacrifice was
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in his nostrils as a sweet smelling savor.
The point that I'm trying to make, though, is the sacrifice is what stays the wrath of God.
You know, so again, going back to what I originally say, we have part in that first resurrection.
We have that part in Jesus Christ, you know, the resurrection. We have that part in him.
So I guess what I'm trying to say, though, is God didn't appoint us to wrath
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because of the sacrifice, the sacrifice.
Now I'm talking New Testament. What is the sacrifice?
Jesus Christ is what that is. But to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Boom. Just needed to read the rest of the verse of 9.
So it says in 10, who died for us, whether we wake or sleep,
we should live together with him.
You know, so he's acknowledging here. here, what I get from this out of verse
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10 is he's acknowledging, look, there's going to be times where,
you know, we wake, but we're awake and we're on the mountaintop.
I kind of get mountain and valley here is what I kind of get out of that.
Cause there's times where we're awake, we're watchful, we're attentive and we're,
we care and we're just right.
We're, you know, we're just right. We're in the center where God wants us to be.
But as Christians, and this is, again, you know, I'm not going to go on the tangent.
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You know, I, I teach, I had taught a lesson on, you know, why I think that losing
your salvation is a, you know, bogus doctrine and a false doctrine.
I had taught on that, but this scripture, like just the scripture alone,
you know, kind of blows it out of the water, right?
Because it says, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
So just because I fall short, if I go into that slothful slumber,
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again, I still believe that he's talking about with this sleep.
I think he's talking about, he's not talking about death because there was a
point in time, not to get too off topic and on a tangent on this.
When Lazarus, you know, the disciples, when Lazarus had died,
the disciples had, you know, looked to the Lord and said, look,
he sleepeth, you know, and Jesus plainly told them and said, Lazarus is dead.
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So we need to understand, you know, the context of how sleep is being used.
And I think a lot of people don't, you know, I'm not throwing rocks at people,
but we got a lot of people that take it way far out of context and kind of put
their own spin on it. So anyway, I
No matter what season we're in, wake and attentive or get in a slothful sleep,
you know, He's still my Savior. He's still, you know, my Jesus. I am still a son.
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You know, let me ask you this, you know, and this is all I'm going to say about
it, and I promise I'm not going to say more about, you know,
that, is that, look, when your kids are on it or when they're not on it,
you know, when at the times they aren't on it, are they no longer your children?
That's not the way God works.
You know, it's the same, you know, relationship that parents have with their children.
You know, just because your children fail in that, you know,
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or they fall short, it doesn't mean that they're still not your children.
It doesn't mean that you still, that you no longer love them just because they
fall short and have a sin nature, just like the rest of us.
You know, you might be saying, well, wait a minute. Are you saying that children have a sin nature?
Now, let me clarify on that. So there's no confusion that I do believe in an age of accountability.
Now that age, we need to understand that age is not a literal age,
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like age 12 or 10. That's not what it's talking about.
That age of accountability is a point in time when God speaks to one's heart
and holds them accountable for sin.
And you might be saying, well, how does he hold you accountable?
Well, how he holds you accountable is, are you going to believe him with all
your heart or are you going to reject him?
You know, those are the times where God is going to hold you accountable for
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sin because you basically know that you need to be saved, but you choose to
reject it, you know, so plain and simple.
So I'm thankful that no matter what season I'm in, you know,
there's going to come a day I'm going to live together with him. them.
So then he reminds them in verse 11, wherefore comfort yourselves together and
edify one another, even as also ye do.
So it sounds like this is something that he was kind of pointing out.
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Like he's not, again, he's not beating them up. He's not being destructive.
He's being constructive to them. You know, he's giving them instruct,
well-needed instruction that I even need to hear oftentimes.
You know, and he's letting them know, you know, comfort each other with these things.
You know, something else that I see with this, with the church,
you know, not just a local body,
but I find that even when I go to a sister church and I go visit and they all
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have that one thing in common in other words they're saved like i am this we
have the spirit of god that dwells in our heart you want to know the thing that's
so beautiful about that is,
We can comfort one another with no matter what season we're in,
whether we're awake season or whether we're kind of in that sleep season.
I'm thankful that we can comfort each other with the fact that we know that,
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look, hey, despite it all, yeah, it might be tough down here,
but I still get to go to heaven.
You know, it's awesome. You know, it's good. It's good stuff.
And 12, it says, and we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among
you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you.
So basically, respect your elders, you know, is kind of what I get out of that,
not just your elders, but those that work around you, you know,
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everybody has a part in the church.
You know, I don't think it's just strictly the elders, but obviously,
you know, those that are over you, those are those that are over you,
those that are elders, those that are seasoned in the way, you know,
you know, and know who they are, you know, obviously,
yes, but also to, you know, in mana, you know, and they admonish you,
well, what is admonish mean?
So 12 actually admonish means recognize them, you know, because what do they do?
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They give you instruction, they teach you, they help the the younger converts,
you know, grow, you know, so it's so important that we cling together during
all these seasons, you know, I'm thankful for that.
And to esteem them very highly in love, so again, there's that love word again,
for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves.
So he's not saying, you know, go and, you know, cause, you know,
strife and sow discord. That's not what, that's not at all what he said.
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He said, be at peace among yourselves. I'm thankful that God can speak peace to the storm.
You know, don't even get me started on how in the gospels, There was one account
where he spoke directly to the storm and the storm was still you know I'm thankful
for that now we exhort your brother This is verse 14 and it says now we exhort
your brother and warn them that are unruly Comfort the feeble mind and support
the weak be patient towards all men So,
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you know those that are unruly so something that you know These churches had
a very big problem with in scripture is apostasy Now what is apostasy apostasy
basically is you had those that kind of like the pharisees They were apostates
is what they were You know,
but you had a lot of those that, you know, one thing that a lot of them had
is a lot of them were constantly,
I mean, you got to think, especially the locations that some of these new churches were set up,
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they constantly have people that are telling them, oh, well,
you're still supposed to be doing things of the law.
You know, the thing, the very thing that Jesus Christ's sacrifice fulfilled,
you know, you had some doing that.
You had some, you know, basically giving them grief because there was Gentiles
in their church, you know, that they thought that salvation was strictly for
the literal Jew. And it's like, you know, that's not at all what he's saying.
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So warn them that are unruly. So be aware of them, know who they are,
you know, comfort the feeble minded, you know, so who are the feeble minded?
Actually, feeble minded is basically those that are faint hearted,
you know, so, you know, comfort them. So.
Let's just face it. Again, the common theme tonight has been seasons.
No matter what season we're in, we have to comfort one another.
(32:19):
We've got to lift each other up. Let me ask you this, is your church going to
be, wherever you go, wherever God's placed you, whatever body God has placed you in,
are you going to be more successful if you guys are working against each other
and there's discord and there's divisions and there's a bunch of it being a
fashion show and talking, railing on one another. Does that sound like your
(32:40):
church is going to be successful?
Does it sound like you're really going to be able to move forward and really
grow close to one another?
No, you know, that's not the way that God set up his church.
You know, the Bible says that a house divided will cannot stand.
You know, you can't say and do one thing because they just contradict, you know, evil and good.
You know, they can't hold hands together. It's just impossible.
You know, so again, you know, now exhort your brother and warn them that are
(33:03):
unruly, so be aware of them. They had a lot of those, again, around Bible times.
Comfort the feeble-minded. Support the weak.
You know, oftentimes, you know, and I'll just say this, you know,
I find myself guilty of this at times, but when it says to support the weak,
how quickly are we to go and be like, man, you know, they're just so weak.
They're just tossed to and fro with every little thing, you know,
(33:23):
and we're quick to try to rail on them when in reality we should be trying to lift them up.
You know, I'll say sometimes, you know, because again, the intoxicating thoughts,
the intrusive thoughts, they sometimes come and we have a tendency to try to
puff ourselves up, you know, when in reality, we ought to be supporting one another.
We ought to be loving one another because Jesus Christ put that down on the inside.
Be patient towards all men. Look, I'm just going to tell you and be straight, honest with you.
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You know, I'll just tell you one of my things that is not my strong suit is patience.
I've got to pray a very great deal and I'm ashamed that I have to.
But if it wasn't for God, you know, I wouldn't have it.
But there are a lot of times, you know, he says, be patient towards all men.
You know, I think it is very important.
And all of these, you got to think, all of these are qualities that Jesus Christ himself had.
(34:08):
So if we're patterning ourselves after Jesus Christ and doing these things,
look, he supported the weak. I mean, for crying out loud, he healed them, right?
You know, he healed the weak. He healed the ones that had infirmities,
the ones that had things that they couldn't help themselves for.
You know, I think that's so important. Yeah, obviously, we're not physically
laying hands on people and healing them, but we can most certainly be a contributing
factor in their healing, right? And what do you mean by that?
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You might be saying, well, preacher, are you saying, can you as a man save them?
No, that's not what I'm talking about.
But I can certainly support them. I can certainly encourage them.
I can certainly love on them. I can lift them up. And when I do that, guess what happens?
You know, you see God just continue to heal and move on the situation,
you know, and then what happens in return?
God blesses you for being a contributing factor, you know, but you see how it works.
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You know, it's a, you know, again, you know, Bible says a threefold cord is
not easily broken. That's like one of my go-to scriptures.
Why is that? The three folds in a braid, you know, think about it.
What are they? I spiritualize it. I say, look, it's the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Trinity.
Those are the things that knit us together and make us be able to clench close to one another.
You know, think about it in fishing line, you know, a braid.
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Are you going to be able to pull apart,
you know, when you start pulling on the axial strength of a string and pulling
in opposite directions,
what's going to have more strength, a single fiber braid or a braid where you
have three fibers that are clenching and tightening, the more and more that
you pull and add those opposite forces against each other, it's going to be the braid.
It's going to have a much stronger axial tensile strength. Yeah, absolutely.
(35:36):
So the point is those cling together, cling to Christ, follow the spirit.
So then he goes on and he says, see that none render evil for evil unto any
man, but ever follow that which
is good, both among yourselves and to all men. So don't be revengeful.
You know, don't, you know, If somebody does evil to you, I will say,
oftentimes our flesh isn't like that.
It wants to do the exact opposite of...
(35:59):
Of what, you know, of this. We want to be revengeful, but even the Bible teaches
that, you know, revenge, and it might be, it might use a different word,
but basically revenge is the Lord's, you know, is what he says. Rejoice evermore.
I think that's a very important component in worship.
You know, there's a time to rejoice. There's a time to weep.
You know, there's a time and a season for everything, you know,
(36:20):
but the most important thing is though, is that even no matter whether we're
on the mountaintop or we're in their valley, you know, we can still rejoice.
And why is that? It's because of the lily of the valley. My goodness.
I'm thankful that we got a God that's familiar with the valleys and carried everything for us.
Pray without ceasing. You know, I think it's very straightforward, very black and white.
You know, you can never pray enough, right? You can't pray enough.
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You know, even in the times where I feel like I've prayed a lot,
you know, I'm just going to say it still probably is not enough.
So praying without ceasing means praying without stopping. Now,
is it your words and your your prayer? No, it's with your heart.
You know, you're constantly praying, you know, you know, all through,
you know, and if you're doing a conscientious effort to do everything you can
and to recognize, look, I don't pray enough, but I am going to do whatever I
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can to pray as much as I can. I think God will honor and bless that. Absolutely.
I mean, think about it. What's, what's the beautiful part about prayer?
You know, prayer is our direct line of communication with God.
You know, my goodness, I, I don't know about anybody else, but even,
you know, I, I love my conversations with God, you know, and I'm thankful for that.
So then he says, as in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in
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Christ Jesus concerning you.
So, I mean, just like, you know, he, Jesus Christ, my goodness,
I'm pretty sure he gave thanks when he broke the bread with his disciples.
My goodness, you know, even in a time like that, and when he was about to do,
you know, my goodness, you know, I begin to think, how can you give thanks in a time like that?
It's because he's God, number one, but God in the flesh. But number two,
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the point of the matter is, is because he knew that he was sent for a purpose.
You know, we as God's people, we have a purpose because of the spirit that's down on the inside.
This is, and here we go. Perfect lead in 19, quench not the spirit.
You know, my goodness, you know, I think this is one that needs to be taught
and preached a lot more, you know, obviously it needs to be done in the spirit,
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but it needs to be taught and said more in the, in the churches.
And what do you mean by that?
When you quench something, you know, okay, so quenching, quenching basically
means putting out a fire, you know, my goodness, like if I walk,
So let's just say, I mean, and I would never do this clearly,
and this is a kind of an off-the-wall example, but it kind of illustrates the point.
But let's just say that the service is really, really on fire.
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People are worshiping. People are shouting. People are testifying.
People are preaching, singing the praises of God. And then somebody just walks
in and slams the door really loud.
Like I said, I know it's an extreme, probably ridiculous example.
Wouldn't that kind of just quench the spirit, just put it out?
Like, I'm not saying it's not, you know, going anywhere.
But, you know, the thing we need to remember is that everything we say and we
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do has adverse actions, you know, has has a cause. There's a cause and there's an effect.
You know, the cause is if you do something that just brings the spirit down.
I believe that can happen as a church body.
You know, if one's not in the one or more are not in the right frame of mind or right frame of heart.
But number two, I think it can happen as an individual as well.
You might be saying, well, how so? So, well, I could do things where the spirit
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is high and really working really strong, and I could do some stupid things
that really just kind of bring it, I guess you could say, down.
And you might be saying, well, preacher, are you saying that you have to work anything up? No.
But what I'm saying is I ought not to do things that work against God because
those are the things that quench and put out the spirit.
Now, what do you mean? Well, I'll give you an example.
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So in metal, metalworking, you know, in engineering school, one thing I remember,
I'll just tell you, you know, one thing I had, we had to learn a little bit
of was, you know, and I never can say the word right, metallurgy,
or I can never say it right, but we had to learn basically the properties of
metals, you know, and just let this kind of resonate with you with it.
So what you could do is that basically what you do with these metals,
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you know, because they have a microstructure that, you know,
basically defines the strength of this metal.
So anyway, when you heat a metal up, you know, to its glowing hot point,
and you go and you immediately put it in what they call a quench,
you know, basically, which is like this vat of water, you're rapidly bringing the temperature down.
It changes the properties of the metal, doesn't it? You know, it can weaken that.
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So you think about that from, you know, from like a Christian standpoint,
you know, the more that we do things that work against the spirit,
the more that it will affect our walk and more that it will affect our life,
the more that it will affect what's going on in the church, you know?
So it's so important that we do things in the spirit and not do things in ourself,
because those are things
that, you know, I mean, I can't tell you, you know, and I'm not going to say specifics,
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but there's been times that I've been in services out and about,
you know, I'm not, and I'm not talking about Shady Grove, obviously,
but there's been times where I've been out and about places and sometimes people
do things in themselves and it's like, the spirit is just there.
It's working, it's moving, it's blessing.
And then as soon as like somebody says something in themselves,
it just makes it go cold as a, feel cold as a refrigerator. It just kills it.
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You know, the point that I'm trying to make though is, you know,
it's so important that we don't like drive out the things that matter.
We don't add things in that weaken us.
Think about it. When you go and take metal and it's in that glowing hot form
and you drop it in a quench, sometimes it can really weaken the metal.
They always actually are. My metallurgy teacher, my metal working teacher,
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I don't know how, again, I'm pushing that word.
One thing he said is if you want to cheat in softball, take an aluminum bat,
heat it up in the oven at 350 for about 10, 15 15 minutes and then immediately
drop it in the quench and then go and take it on the softball field and swing
it. You'll break the bat.
But you see, the point there is that if we let these external things get in
the way of us, those are things that quench the spirit.
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Those are things that we ought not to do that weaken us.
You know, I'd rather be strong in God and just be so full of the Holy Ghost
that it just drips on one another. That's the way we need to be.
Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. So don't just talk about it. Don't put it on a show.
You know, hold fast to that which is good. You know, show it, though.
Prove it. You know, prove that you're doing that. Now, how do you prove that?
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Do you need to go and get a billboard or megaphone and do those things?
No, you know, you prove it by, you know, not just talking about it,
but also living it. You know, I think that's very important.
Holding fast that which is good. So hanging on really quickly to,
you know, the things that are good, which is all through Christ,
you know, the qualities and the fruits of the spirit.
Abstain. This is a big one that I think needs to be driven home more.
(42:31):
Abstain from all appearance of evil.
You know, and actually my wife and I were just talking about this last night,
you know, And I think this is a good scripture because the more that we kind
of take on this attitude, you kind of take on more of a, I'd rather play it safe than sorry.
And what do you mean by that? Well, I would rather do, I would rather play,
(42:54):
like if I have to question, like actually this is something one of my elders
have said before, but if I'm about to go and do something
and I have to constantly question it and it doesn't bring me peace,
I pretty much have my answer.
You might be saying, well, how so? So it's because if you have to question it
to the point to where you're wondering if you're about to sin or not,
it's probably better safe to just abstain from the appearance of it.
(43:14):
If it looks like that and it brings you, the spirit brings you conviction about
it, don't do it. You know, plain and simple, you know, very black and white.
In the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly, like everything we've been talking about.
And I pray, God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless
in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you. And this is something, this is a verse 24 is
(43:38):
one that we really need to be reminded a lot.
Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.
You know, thankful for that. You know, I'm thankful that we got a God that's faithful.
You know, name a time where he hasn't. But, you know, the times where,
again, Satan puts those intrusive thoughts in there and tries to make you believe
that, you know, that he isn't faithful. My goodness, he is faithful.
He's faithful that called you out of, you know, out of sin, right?
(44:01):
Because you have to be called to get saved, right? But he called you out of
that and he pulled you out of that.
But he also did it too, right? There was a action towards it.
You know, I'm thankful for a God that'll do it.
Brethren, pray for us. You know, so again, Paul, you know, in his missionary
journeys, not only did he need prayer, but that's also, again,
just like you said, pray without ceasing is something we all do.
Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. Again, loving the brethren.
(44:24):
I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
I'm just thankful for this verse, and I'm really thankful tonight. I just will testify.
I know I've talked a lot, and I know it's been a long podcast,
so I trust and pray that you maybe learned something, or I trust and pray that it's encouraged you.
Like I said, our church has been kind of in this really difficult season.
(44:46):
You know, it's been very up and down and all over the place.
And I know some of the podcast episodes have been all over the place,
but I know that's not going to be like that forever.
But my goodness, I just want to tell you all how much we appreciate all of you.
And I pray that the messages, you know, my goodness, you know,
I still go back and I won't listen to myself because that's a me thing,
but I'll get back and I'll listen to a lot of these messages that,
(45:06):
you know, Brother Stephen has uploaded on this podcast channel.
And I'm I'm telling you, you know, I can't tell you, you know,
it's so awesome that you have a place that you can go back to where you can
listen to that and God can just bless you all over again and over and over again.
I'm thankful for that. But until next time.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.