March 29 - Conclusion to First Thessalonians

Welcome to Thessaly Baptist Church.

It is nice to see our church here. Mattheo, Anthropos/Adam, Anthrosoikos, Iakobi, Anna, Charapater, Johanne, Iessai, Katharos. You can call me Didaskole.

Just a reminder, our pastor is Jason, one of our great evangelists is Aristarchus. We have turned from idols to serve the One True God, and we have been beaten and afflicted by our countrymen and the Jewish Synagogue down the street for our stance on the truth.

We have this big beautiful collection of scrolls of the Word of God, but since all of our Hebrew brothers have been killed or run out of town, we don't have anybody to read them. But we do not despair, for the Holy Spirit is working in our midst, giving us the words to say and the boldness to say them. Our evangelistic efforts down on the docks are working perfectly, our evangelists on the Egnatian Way have reported mass conversions. Truly the Lord is blessing us in the midst of our hardship.

A few announcements before we start, we will be having baptism for new believers after this meeting, representing the spiritual regeneration of our souls, that we were buried with Christ and raised with him to walk in newness of life. Following that, we will have a memorial service for our brothers and sisters who lost their lives for Christ's sake this week.

Exciting news, we have received a letter from Paul, Silas, and Timothy from Corinth. It answers a question that we have had for a long time about what happens to us if we die before Jesus returns. Paul asks that this letter is read before the church, so before we do that, lets pray.

Father, we can't thank you enough for saving us from our sins, for giving us the knowledge of yourself and of your Son, that he would die for us without provocation so that we can become ministers of his glorious Gospel. Holy Spirit, give us the words to speak, give us boldness to speak these words, and save many into Eternal Life. We thank you for being with us as we preach throughout Thessalonica and we can't understand why you have chosen us to be your ministers in such a rich harvest as this port city, but we love to minister in your name. King Jesus, we worship and adore you, we rejoice that for us you took on and defeated death. Lord we ask you to hasten in your return, for your saints are perishing by the sword, we long to see your face, and to fellowship in your presence. We pray these things in the name of him who was dead, but is now alive, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

A letter from Paul.

παυλος και σιλουανος και τιμοθεος τη εκκλησια θεσσαλονικεων εν θεω πατρι και κυριω ιησου χριστω χαρις υμιν και ειρηνη...

Oh right, we're only pretending to be in Greece...

1 Thessalonians 1-5 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy; To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed— God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last!

But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you—for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Brothers, pray for us.

Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

So, we’re wrapping up First Thessalonians, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I was going to jump straight into Second Thessalonians, but then I think we’d miss the point that it took a little while for them to get the wrong beliefs they got. So over the next month or so, keep thinking about Thessalonica, imagine them getting a letter that said the rapture had already happened, and then we’ll visit them again after an Easter lesson, and a few lessons on the Seven Churches of Revelation.

The way Paul wraps up this letter is beautiful. In just a few words he communicates his love for this church.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

v. 23-24 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

We can’t be perfect, but we’re supposed to try, knowing that if we fail we have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ who took all of our sins on the cross. We’re not trying to be sanctified and not to sin in order to get to Heaven, that is already fully purchased, in gratitude and submission we are seeking to obey God, not in repayment.

One thing the Bible talks about that is hard to discern what exactly it is talking about is a soul and spirit. I don’t know what the difference is, but there is certainly a difference. My guess is that the spirit is what we normally consider the soul, the part that will live forever. The soul is our intellect, emotions, and beliefs. The body is easy, it’s this outer shell we’ve got.

God who called us out of the darkness into his marvelous light is faithful, which means he can be trusted, and we know that he will sanctify us completely whenever he calls us home or Christ returns.

v. 25 Brothers pray for us.

Straight forward, pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ, those that are close, and those that are far away. One thing though, it’s not efficacious to pray for people who have already died, for it is appointed once for a man to die, and then the judgment. In Heaven they are already made pure as Christ is pure, so there is no need to pray for them. Neither can they pray for you, don’t pray to saints departed to ask them to pray for you or to intercede for you, because that’s not their job. The Catholic Church falls for this, it’s nuts. Don’t do it.

I hope you’re seeing that prayer is a major theme in the Bible, and especially in this Epistle. We need to be constantly praying for each other, for our church, and for the souls of those who don’t believe. When you pray, you don’t have to close your eyes, you don’t have to look down, you don’t have to take off your hat. There are all good reasons for doing these things, but I don’t want you to think that you have to pray a certain way.

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

When I was driving back from Celebrate Freedom last year we were eating and somebody said, “We should bless this food.” Which is good, and so he started praying and I closed my eyes and bowed my head. Only for like one-one-millionth of a second, but it made me realize that we need to know there are a lot of ways to pray and just bowing our heads and closing our eyes is not the only way, and we’re not bribing God. I like doing it this way because it humbles us and causes us to concentrate, but it’s not the only way.

v. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

This isn’t kissing like we’re used to. It’s kissing either on the cheeks, or on the chin, though I’ve never seen anybody kiss on the chin. One of my friends in England married a Romanian girl, when I met her she kissed me on the cheeks.

What Paul means here is not just to kiss one another, but really to be friends with everyone in the church, to greet them personally and warmly. A handshake works well today, or a hug. Demonstrate your Christian love between each other.

This statement occurs five times in the Bible, both Peter and Paul talked about it, and it’s how Judas betrayed Jesus.

Luke 22:47-48 While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"

A warning that I think is pertinent is that the mark of a cult usually is some sort of weird sexual sin. Don’t let anybody use verses like this one to say, “See, the Bible says you’re supposed to kiss me.” Or others like it, kissing on the lips should be limited between you and your future spouse.

v. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

We just did that. The Bible isn’t a book just for the leaders and pastors, we are a priesthood of believers and we all need to have a thorough understanding of the Bible.

v. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Last verse, it’s got a lot in it. Grace is unmerited favor, it is both how we are saved by Christ’s unprovoked death on the cross for us, and it is how we live, that he defeated death. All good things come from him.

Paul started this letter off with grace, and he finished it with grace.

What do you guys think? What’d you like?

Prayer Requests
Shawn Groves Preaching
Baptism
New Orleans Mission Trip
Jamaica Missions Trip
Students going to China
Brad and Kelly and Luke
Grandpa Jimmy
Bethany's friend moving
Bethany's friend's great-grandfather and salvation
Becky's Surgery
Kari in Knoxville
Dave Sloan in Germany
Elmer and Diana and all of Compassion International
Last E-Team

March 22nd - Love Demonstrated II

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching and Efforts in Portugal
Olivia - Getting Better
Becky - Surgery Went Well
Alice - Getting Baptized
Fancy's salvation

Text – 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

So, it’s a big list of commands, we’re going to cruise over them pretty quickly because they are mainly just guidelines towards living a godly life. They can be summed up in two commands,

Matthew 22:35-40 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Two weeks ago we talked about respecting your pastors and loving them when they reprove you. We missed two quick things and I want to touch on them briefly;

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but one who hates correction is stupid.

Is open rebuke better, or is secret love? Remember from Proverbs 27:5 that open rebuke, correction, is better than love in secret. And a verse that tells us to make sure those preaching are preaching the truth.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

We’re going to talk about how to test their message in verse 20.

v. 13-15 Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

There are a lot of things included in this passage, so lets go through them one by one.

Be at peace, means don’t cause unnecessary divisions, realize that different people have different personalities and that God has no preference for non-doctrinal matters other than we live in peace together within the church, loving one another and encouraging each other towards action and godliness.

Admonish the idle means to yell at people who aren’t doing anything. Remember this for Second Thessalonians. This is people who could work but aren’t working, not people who are unable to work, for those people the church is supposed to take care of them.

Encourage the fainthearted means those whose courage is failing. Remember, Thessalonica was being persecuted and many had died. Those remaining were in constant threat of pain and death, and many had lost loved ones. We encourage them to be of good courage, that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, that we do not mourn as those who have no hope, here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. It is hard to apply this one to ourselves since nobodies trying to kill us.

Help the weak is likely the physically week, those who are unable to work for themselves, or cannot get around on their own, or those who have way too much physical and emotional duties; here we come along side them and bear their burden. We are able to apply this one easily, such as helping the elderly, feeding the homeless, or volunteering at church, or any number of many different ways.

Be patient with them all. All of these have some sort of failing, either their fault or not their fault. Just as God was and is patient with us, so must we be patient with those who annoy us or don’t do things the way we want them done or as fast as we want them done. The best advice I’ve received on this is that as bad as I’ve offended God, I have no right to be offended myself, for since I’ve been forgiven much, I must likewise forgive much.

See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good. This is precisely what Christ did for us, if he had been fair, he would have crushed us the first time we sinned. But because he repays evil with good, we have the opportunity to be saved.

Romans 2:4 Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Romans 12:19-21 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

v. 16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

We talked about these verses on Prayer-Sunday, so instead of going back over them lets look at some similar verses:

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 5:3-5 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Sometimes people will say that suffering is not caused by God or not what God wants for us, but this verse in First Thessalonians very clearly says that our circumstances are the will of God.

Let me give you an example, has anyone broken a bone in here? I broke my wrist when I was eighteen going way too fast on a motorcycle. The way it healed the doctor said it will be way stronger than it was to start with because it’s been built up and reinforced now.

That is how our character works, it is the natural inclination for me and your parents to try to keep you from all sorts of pain and hurt, but if we did this effectively you’d never grow in endurance, character, and hope. Just because some of you are characters doesn’t mean you have character, and everybody can always use more character.

I just finished The Heavenly Man about a Christian in China who spent years in prison, was beaten, chased, slandered, and humiliated in every way possible, and his character, hope, and testimony to the grace and strength of Christ is incredible.

On prayer, last week we learned about imprecatory prayers. Who remembers what they are? That's not our only type of prayer, obviously, but all of our prayers aren't lovey-dovey, but have at their heart the will of God and his holiness.

v. 19 Do not quench the Spirit.

Quench means to put out, like pouring water on a fire. You can’t drown the Person of the Holy Spirit, but you can hinder the work of sanctification he is doing in your life.

The three ways to do this are:

1. Indulge in Sin
2. Hang out with sinners instead of saints
3. Fail to Pray and Read your Bible

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."

Paul goes on in verses 20-22 to demonstrate how not to quench the Spirit.

v. 20-22 Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

Prophecies in this sense is different than we think of prophecies in the Old Testament sense. A prophecy is not predicting the future, it is declaring the Word of the Lord. Often times this is associated with his revelation of the future, but what a prophecy is is revelation from God. As we remember from Hebrews 1, new revelation has ceased, the Word of God is entirely sufficient for our lives until the end of the world. There is nothing anyone could say that would benefit us that isn’t somewhere already contained in this Book.

1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.

So, in order not to quench the Spirit, we listen to people read the Bible and preach on the Bible. Just like you’re doing now. Remember also from Hebrews that we are not to forsake the assembling of the saints, a person who does not fellowship with others will not being doing good works in the Spirit, God wants us to work as a body and not as individuals.

Even while we listen to people preach, we are to test everything against the Bible. Make sure it is absolutely true and that heresy is not being preached from the pulpit. A church with a good preacher and a congregation that reads the Bible will go far, and while we’re biased here at Summit, we love that our church has both and we rejoice in the good works our church does.

When you find something to be biblical, you are to hold fast to it. Treasure the Word of God in your heart, apply it, and preach it. The book I just read happened at a time when it was illegal to have a copy of the Bible in China, so when the man it is about got a Bible, he instantly set to memorizing it because he had no idea how long he would have it. When in prison he was able to preach and quote straight from the Bible, even though he didn’t have one in front of him. Some of his best sermons were just when he would recite all 28 chapters of Matthew.

Abstain from every form of evil is pretty straight forward. If it hurts your conscience, don’t do it. If the Bible speaks against it, don’t do it. If you would be embarrassed if someone found out about it, don’t do it. If it would bring dishonor to your Saviour, don’t do it.

One of my very favorite verses deals directly with this:

Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Test everything, all I want you to do is tell me whether the following statement is true or wrong:
There is no such thing as an absolute statement. F

The universe is 16 billion years old. F

Good people go to Heaven. T

Water always boils at 212 degrees. F

Good deeds can pay for sins. F

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but not God. F

There is no contradiction between the Bible and evolution. F

There are many paths to God. F

God could have saved us apart from Jesus dying on a cross. F

Matthew 26:39, 42 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."

Galatians 2:21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

March 15th - Imprecations

Prayer Requests
Channing Preaching
National Revival – Harvesters for the Fields
Sarah Going to China
Olivia Kissinger in the Hospital
Tracy's Thumb
Daniel's Friend's Family
Missy and Randy Health/Jobs

Text – Psalm 94

I prayed long and hard about this topic, not knowing if I should teach it, and I actually wrote a whole other lesson plan…but then on Saturday Dave asked if I could teach the High Schoolers too, and that was an undeniable answer to my prayer, because the passage we’re on in First Thessalonians would make very little sense to you without reading at least the rest of chapter 5. We’re going to be talking about a different kind of prayer today, but I encourage you to keep track of prayers you pray, because I believe you’ll be amazed at how many of them are answered. There is something important going on in the battle for America, and one that we have to look at motives and the Bible to find the truth about what is happening. It doesn't really have anything to do with 1 Thessalonians...

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge"…

The guy in the White House, Barack Obama, lifted a ban on funding Stem-Cell Research in Embryonic Stem-Cells this week. I want you guys to know what this means and why it is so stupid for the government to be doing this and that it isn’t really a matter of science, but them proving how much they hate the Living God.

There are four kinds of stem-cells that we’ve discovered so far. Three of these are very good and there never has been a ban on them, one of these is sinister and was banned because it kills a person.

So first, what’s a stem-cell? It’s sort of the construction worker of your body. Are any of your dads construction workers? My dad is, and since he is, I know there are two kinds of construction worker. There is the kind that builds things from scratch, and there is the kind that fixes things after they are built. My dad has done both jobs, and so can all stem-cells do both jobs, but they have specialties.

A stem-cell can replace pretty much any cell in your body, say a nerve gets damaged, a new stem-cell comes in and fixes that nerve. The same stem-cell can replace a muscle cell, or a skin cell, or a liver cell, they are able to do all sorts of jobs, but once it has decided what it is going to be, that is what it is going to be.

Stem-Cells
Amniotic – Taken from the placenta after a baby is born, nobody dies
Umbilical – Taken from the umbilical cord after a baby is born, nobody dies
Marrow / Adult – Taken from a person’s very own bone marrow, nobody dies
Embryonic – Taken from a baby before it is born, the baby dies

Amniotic and Umbilical stem-cells have shown some promise, healing some basic ailments, but the Adult cell, which is the common name for this type, has shown the most promise. These three types are the fixers.

Embryonic stem-cells have never healed anybody, and in tests in lab-rats they cause cancer instead of healing. These are the builders and they have no interest in fixing things, theirs is to make human beings, not fix problems in human beings.

Yet Barack Obama and other God-haters love the embryonic stem-cell and this is where they want to put all of their money. It is foolishness beyond foolishness. Michael J. Fox wants money to be put into this hopefully so he can be healed of his Parkinson’s Disease, yet he’s going exactly the wrong direction and will suffer the consequences.

Proverbs 8:35-36 For whoever finds [wisdom] finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.

In conclusion, Adult stem-cells are awesome, nobody has to die, they are an incredible gift from God. If we put more money into this research, we will see diabetes go away, paraplegics and quadriplegics walk again, and even many forms of cancer healed. Embryonic stem-cells are stupid, they have no potential, and it is the murder of a baby, and God will judge those who are so happy to destroy human life.

Questions?

In First Thessalonians there is a verse talking to the church at Thessalonica, who has been persecuted like crazy, and Paul tells them this:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul tells this church straight out that the persecution they are going through is God’s will for them. You can’t surprise God, he knew that Barack Obama was going to end up in the White House and within two months was going to sign bills that encouraged the killing of babies. The last time the High School was in here we looked at a verse in Isaiah 57 about Israel killing their babies, lets look at another one in 2 Chronicles 33, everybody turn, please.

A little history, Israel and Judah had some very wicked kings, Saul, Hezekiah, Amon, to name a few, but nobody could outsin Manasseh, lets read what he did:

2 Chronicles 33:1-6 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever." In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

He sacrificed his sons in the fire. Whenever things get really bad in the Old Testament, you can usually find babies getting killed. But we know from First Thessalonians, as well as many, many other places, that God is in control. Lets look at two real quick,

Lamentations 3:37-39 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?

Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

And my favorite,

Amos 3:6-7 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

There are so many more we could look at, Romans 1, John 3:27, the whole book of Revelation…but do you get the point? It is God’s will that what is happening is happening, and therefore we better be paying attention to the lesson he is teaching us.

God created the world for four major purposes:
First is the creativity and power of God; he created an infinitely big universe where no star, no human being, no snowflake is exactly the same as another.
Second is to show us how bad sin is, that it has led to the death of everything, that it causes unbelievable suffering, and that it is contagious.
Third is to show us that good can only come from God, and apart from God, not even the angel Lucifer can put together a working planet, having been labeled the ruler of this world. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out that Lucifer is not purposefully evil but is trying his hardest to make earth a godless utopia.
Fourth is to put these three together; it shows how amazingly good and genius God is, that he is capable of saving us from sin but only by willingly going to the cross and taking our punishment, then showing his power by defeating death and bestowing his goodness on us.

I want to focus on the second, that God is demonstrating to us how bad sin is and why he hates it. I always have to share Psalm 11:5 when talking about this,

Psalm 11:5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Just as it is foolish for me to hate the bullet but love the assassin, it is foolish for God to hate the sin but love the sinner. He has an abiding hatred towards his enemies, but a lovingkindness that he sent his Son to absorb the wrath they deserved, so if they’ll repent and believe the Gospel, they will be saved. It is our duty as Christians to hate sinners and enemies of God, but Romans 12 is very clear that we are to leave all vengeance up to God. That leads into where I’ve been driving: imprecations.

What is an imprecation? It is a prayer asking God to pour out his vengeance on someone. 90 of the 150 Psalms contain imprecations, and that is certainly not the only place they are found. Peter Hammond, a missionary to South Africa, kept tract of imprecatory prayers that were being prayed against evil leaders, and many, many of them died. I’ve included a link on the website if you’d like to do a follow-up: http://www.frontline.org.za/articles/praying%20for%20justice.htm

You guys know I love history, so lets look into the past. In the mid-1500’s John Knox began his ministry as a Catholic priest in Catholic Scotland, but then his friend George Wiseheart, and Englishman and Protestant, was sent from King Henry to Mary, Queen of Scots to arrange a marriage between Anglican England and Catholic Scotland. Wiseheart was burned at the stake by the Catholic Church just for proposing that Catholic Mary would marry a non-Catholic. Reform was sweeping Europe and somehow or another John Knox got saved, the details are fuzzy, but it sounds like Knox was saved listening to Wiseheart open-air preach. Anyway it happened went to visit with John Calvin in Geneva. While here he became a radical reformer and headed back for Scotland, his most famous quote is, “Give me Scotland, else I die!”

He stood against Mary, Queen of Scots, admonishing her to her face, and repeatedly bringing her to tears. She said, “I fear the imprecations of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”

Her consort, Henry, banned Knox from preaching in his presence, but that didn’t stop Knox from preaching. He would preach to his congregation, then he would go outside and preach to anybody and everybody that would listen. During this time he continued to try to convert Mary and Henry, as well as praying against their efforts to suppress the Reformation. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Scottish Christians would die by their decree. Knox would pray Psalms against Mary, and apparently Henry went so far as throwing at least part of her Bible into the fire, this was at a time when Bibles cost in excess of $50,000 in todays money.

Knox confronted Henry and said, “Have you, for the pleasure of that dainty dame, cast the psalm-book into the fire? The Lord shall strike both head and tail.” Mary and Henry would both die painful deaths.

So, I want to look at a prayer the Psalmist wrote against some very wicked people. We don’t know for sure who wrote this Psalm, I believe fairly strongly that it was David, but ultimately who is the Author? God.

Psalm 94:1-3,20-23 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs—O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?...Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by law? They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

We are fully and totally authorized to pray imprecations against enemies of righteousness. We should be asking God to either grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, or for him to crush them out of existence so that sin can no longer abound. In this we will be conformed closer and closer to an image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a GREAT verse to commit to memory:

Hebrews 1:8-9 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."

And what is the fruit of Knox’s prayers? After Mary and Henry fled Scotland, later to be executed in England, Scotland saw a massive return to the Living God. Knox birthed the Presbyterian Church and greatly furthered the Reformation. Mary, Queen of Scots would have a son, his named was James VI of Scotland. Does anyone know his other name? James I of Great Britain, he was the first legitimate king of the whole of Britain, and he was a great friend of John Knox, thoroughly protestant.

What is his crowning achievement? In 1604 he realized that there were a lot of translations of the Bible and none of them were really good in English. He commissioned the Authorized Version of the Bible, otherwise known as the King James Version, or as Dave calls it, the King Jimmy Bible. This was the Bible of choice for over 300 years, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Charles Spurgeon would preach out of this Bible, to name a few.

It is still a really good Bible, but since it was written four-hundred years ago it’s not really in our language anymore, which is why we have the ESV Bible, the NIV, the NASB, the HCSB, and the NKJV which are all good Bibles.

So, to switch gears just slightly. Sarah is going to China. In China they have a similar problem, their Bible was translated in 1919 and it’s not really in the language they speak anymore. In 2007 a brand new translation was completed at great expense and is supposedly a very good Bible, but it is not yet legal to sell this Bible in China. Sarah, I don’t have very many details, but I implore you to take at least one new Bible into China with you and leave it, if not a few. I have no idea what the laws are, but I know you’re allowed a personal Bible.

There is a massive revival going on in China, there are more Christians in China than in America. They are working on a huge missionary outreach between China and Jerusalem. The greatest thing we can do is pray, both for them, and for God to raise up harvesters for our fields.

And finally, we thank God that while we were alienated from him, hostile in mind, doing wicked works, Christ has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before him, and that we have now become ministers of his Gospel.

This Gospel is the only hope for our country, the only hope for our friends, the only hope for our babies, and the only hope for the world. So I implore you, know it, pray it, live it, and preach it.

March 8th - Love Demonstrated I

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Romans 8
Channing Preaching
E-Team
Jerrold Stouder Preaching/Job
FCA @ Awtrey
Dare2Share efforts
Missy & Ted Job
Peter's Health

Text – 1 Thessalonians 5:8-15

We’re going to look at pretty much a list of commands today. The Bible is ingeniously written, using parables, poems, narratives (stories), principles and sermons to teach us many points without having to be a list. Such as, “Do do this, don’t do that, do not speed, do drive safely, do not cheat on your homework, do study hard for tests…” It would get tedious quickly, so the Bible gives us principles rather than instructions for the most part and that is how it is authoritative on every thing it talks about.

The Bible isn’t a science book, but when it talks about science, it is authoritative and correct. It isn’t a history book, but when it talks about history it is flawless. It isn’t just a list of morals, but the morals it describes are impeccable.

There are very, very few absolute truths.

For example, what color is the sky? The sky is clear, the refraction of light makes it look blue.

Can 2+2=5?

Is Alcohol always bad?

The only absolute in the universe is God. He is the Truth, his name is True. He is good, he is God, and we are not. Everything he created started out good, but through sin everything has the potential to be used for bad.

So instead of following a list of rules, God gives us guidelines to follow, he is equally concerned with our motives as with our actions.

For example, what is the 6th Commandment? Thou shalt not murder…yet what does Genesis 9:6 say?

Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

The motive changes whether it is sinful or good. So God doesn’t give us hard and fast rules to live by, but an example in his perfect sinless Son. Just like looking in a mirror to determine how you look, so is looking into the law the way we know if we are righteous or not.

And are we? No, we’ve broken all 10 of the 10 Commandments, in spirit if not in flesh, and were utterly lost, sold into sin, when Jesus Christ died for us and we have obtained salvation, being justified by faith. So how then should we live?

1 Thessalonians 5:8-15 Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

v. 8 Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

What’s a breastplate? It is a piece of body armor that covers your upper torso, it protects all of your vital organs. The Bible uses various organs to describe our emotions, one of the reasons these are so named is where God has put our feelings, for example, has anybody ever had “butterflies in your stomach”? Did you really have butterflies, or did it just feel that way? But the feeling is in the stomach, right? The Bible describes this part of our body as our compassion. Similarly, our heart is the center of our emotions.

In protecting these two parts with the breastplate of faith and love, we are able to continue living for God, belonging to the day, remaining serious in our sanctification and ministry.

Say someone comes along and says, “We’ve proved evolution, absolutely, definitively, therefore the Bible is false.” Because the Bible cannot stand with evolution, they are entirely contradictory, either the Bible is right or evolution is right, because God is a God of completion, man caused death, and evolution is contradictory to the Bible in so many ways there is no way to reconcile the two. So, somebody comes along and says, “We’ve proved evolution, absolutely, definitively, therefore the Bible is false.” If you don’t have faith in God and the Bible, then you might think, “Oh no! I’m believing in vain, if I can’t trust the Bible, who can I trust?” But if you trust the Bible, then you can say, “Yeah, they’ve tried that before and it’s always been a bust, evolution is false, the Bible is true, God created the world complete a little over 6000 years ago.” Then you ask, “So what’s your proof?” And they’ll come back with something stupid like, “We’ve found a tooth in Africa that comes from our earliest ancestor and it dated to 9 Million years ago…” And you look at the tooth, and say, “Obviously this is your tooth, see, the one you’re missing, yep it’s this one.” Faith will make all the difference in how you are approached by things like that, always have the presupposition that the Bible is true, and it will always turn out to be correct, no matter how much someone thinks they’ve disproved it. Love will put your faith into action and you will become effective for every good thing that is in you for the sake of Christ.

Here's the Video we talked about


For our helmet we put on the hope of salvation. The helmet covers your head, the place of the intellect. God wants you to know that you are saved, the Bible is replete with tests for determining if you’re actually saved. If you’re not absolutely sure you’re going to Heaven, then you are probably not, so please see me after class or give me a call or shoot me an e-mail or ask your parents or Dave Snyder, because God wants you to know. The helmet of the hope of salvation will allow us to intellectually fight for the faith and defend ourselves and the church from attack.

Hebrews 13:6 We can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

Something Paul does a lot is mirror the beginning of his letters with the end, he does it here.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The directions to come relate to how they are to be imitators of Christ, which was how Paul started the Epistle, but first he reminds us of the Gospel, which he had given also in chapter 1.

This is what we have faith in, what drives our lives, and where our hope comes from:

v. 9-11 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

The wrath that we stored up didn’t just go away, but Christ absorbed it on Calvary’s cross, therefore we are reconciled in his death and saved in his life. So now we are confident that whether we are alive or dead, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The natural response to this is to tell people about it, and to encourage them and build them up to likewise tell more people about it. So then Paul jumps into some basic rules.

v. 12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

This one is pretty straight forward, love your pastors, and esteem them for their work towards eternity. Truly there is no more important job than that of shepherd of Christ’s flock, he is the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, we ought to be imitators of him.

1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

Respect them even in their admonishing of you, admonishing means correcting. In this, you should be reading your Bible so that you know if they are teaching sound doctrine, and so you can tell that they are being biblical.

Proverbs 27:5-6 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

When we correct you, it’s not out of malice or to make you feel bad, it’s to lead you in the truth. Speaking of shepherds, a real literal shepherd carries a staff, one of the reasons for this is to poke the sheep to get them to go where they need to go. Sheep are stupid, as the shepherd is driving them to water or pasture, they will sometimes get on pretty worn trails, where other sheep have been, and those sheep have to use the bathroom.

A sheep gets thirsty, sees liquid, and drinks it. It’s the shepherds job to hit it with his staff so it keeps going so that it gets to the good water. The same with your pastors, you might think you find happiness in varying things, like video games, or television, or in popularity, it’s their job to point you at Christ and say, “There is something infinitely better and it’s my job to get you there.” It’s not that they don’t like you, it’s that they love you that sometimes there is admonition and rebuke, if you realize that they have your best interest at heart then it will be easy to love them.

But remember there are wolves in sheep’s clothing, so constantly be testing what you hear against the truth of scripture. The worst thing that can happen to a congregation is when the wolf puts on shepherds clothing.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

March 1st - Walking in the Light

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching Romans 8
Calvary Children’s Home
School Projects and Tests

Text – 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11

First things first, last week we asked, “What does Zealous mean?” I had an idea of what it meant, but didn’t know for sure, so here is what it means:

Full of, characterized by, or due to zeal; ardently active, devoted, or diligent.

This makes sense, especially to the church that it was being written to, who was Laodicea, who was being the opposite of zealous, they were just bearing the name of Jesus without being zealous, which is why he told them to be, and to repent. If we have time in this class before summer I’d like to go over the 7-churches of Revelation 2 and 3, as they are extremely useful examples of how a Christian church will run.

Second, to tie this class into the Prayer-Sunday class, on that day we talked about the chapter and verse break-ups and that they were not put there by the original writers, but by a man named Robert Stephanus in 1551. While he did a pretty good job, it has done all sorts of damage to theology because we have a tendency to think verses stand on their own. The one that relates to today’s lesson is

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

When we read that, we think Jesus went up on the highest place with the biggest megaphone and proclaimed to the world, I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE!

But that’s not what he did, he was talking to his disciples, and told them we would go to prepare a place for them and would come back for them. For they knew the way to where he was going.

But Thomas was kinda slow, and he said, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

And Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

So, we know the way, it is Jesus Christ, he who died for sins but is alive, he is the resurrection and the life, he is the truth, and he is God. And we know him and place our hope in him as someone we have not seen with physical eyes, but know he exists, and is who he says he is, because of his perfect revelation to us. It would be very easy to jump into our passage for today, since it relates directly to this, but then you might not remember the context, so lets read from chapter 4 verse 13 to chapter 5 verse 11.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

So the context is that Christ will be returning, both the quick (alive) and the dead in Christ will rise to meet him as he returns, then he will wage war on his enemies. While the world is saying they have peace and security, we will see the signs of his coming, more “natural” disasters, a fake security, famines, lots of wars and rumors of war, and numerous false-christs.

Remember above all that these signs and seasons are “not given to form a calendar, but to form a character; a character of prayerfulness, watchfulness, honesty, and holiness.” (William Varner)

For most, the Second Coming of Christ will be entirely unexpected, just as in Noah’s time when they were eating and drinking, and marrying, but then the flood came and swept them all away.

v. 4-5 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

Our light comes totally and only from Jesus. This is speaking of spiritual light. Imagine if you were sitting in your house with all the lights on, do you think a thief would be able to sneak in? But what if you were like the world, with all of the lights off, the thief would have free reign in the house.

John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

While we don’t know the exact day that Christ will return, we won’t be hugely surprised when he does come back. Certainly we may be a little, but it won’t be unexpected.

Notice Paul keeps using the word “brothers”, this is the fourth time about this subject, he also uses “children”, referring to God’s adopted children; he wants to make sure that an unbeliever reading or hearing this couldn’t think they would be ok.

1 Peter 2:9 You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We live in a time of much physical light at night, living in a city we hardly even think about just walking outside at night. I grew up in the country, not in the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there, and after it got dark you wouldn’t be doing much outside, because you would stumble and fall, and maybe even get eaten by something.

That’s for the most part how Thessalonica would understand this epistle, that after the sun went down, it got DARK. That’s how our souls used to be, but Christ has given us the light of life, so that we no longer walk in spiritual darkness.

v. 6 Then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.

This verse is somewhat hard to understand, the agreement on what it means by scholars is that we are not to act as the spiritually dark, not falling into sin as soon as it presents itself.

Your body produces a chemical called tryptophan as soon as the lights go out which makes you drowsy and want to go to sleep. This chemical is also found in turkey and is why turkey makes you sleepy. Knowing this now, this verse makes a lot more sense, that physically as soon as we go into darkness, we want to go to sleep. So spiritually is the same way, if we go into the darkness we are naturally inclined to sin. So, we shouldn’t sin as soon as sin presents itself.

v. 7-8 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober…

Alcohol is a something debated a lot in the church, especially in the Baptist denomination. I’ll share some verses with you to share my view on it. This would be a good thing to discuss with your parents.

Proverbs 31:4-7 It is not for kings, O Lemuel—not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer, lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

Lemuel, who wrote Proverbs 31, said that those in responsible positions should avoid strong alcoholic drinks, because it might cause them to be irresponsible. But then he gives the purpose of alcohol, especially for those in distress, it is to dampen pain. We’ve moved on in our medical practices to things like Morphine, which are much harder to make than alcohol, but work better. So when taking medicine, make sure it’s not making you irresponsible in your duties, but know that God ordains their use for pain relief.

Proverbs 23:29-35 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. "They struck me," you will say, "but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink."

Straight forward enough, right? Any questions?

1 Timothy 5:23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

Hmm…seems backwards from what we’ve just been reading. Here’s the explanation, wine and beer kills bacteria, and water for the majority of history, and even in most places today, isn't filtered so well as the water we drink, and bacteria in it can make you sick or even kill you. So water mixed with a little wine will have no bacteria and is considerably better for you than just unfiltered water. That’s what Paul told Timothy to drink some, because then he will have less bacteria attacking him. Some will use this to advocate drinking a lot, but obviously it says, “a little wine.” Compare the calling of a deacon:

1 Timothy 3:8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.

How much is much wine? I don’t know, but as we read in Proverbs 23, once you start to have red eyes, alcohol is all you think about, and you lose control of your inhibitions, you’ve definitely gone way too far. Paul writes to Thessalonica, “Let us be sober.” Sober means no wine or very, very, very little wine.

One thing that gets debated a lot is wine at the Lord’s Supper, we at Summit use grape-juice. I’ll tell you why I think this is wrong, but not something to start a fight over. Blood is very, very rich in nutrients, and once it is in the open air, all sorts of bacteria attacks it. Have any of you ever given blood? How do they store it? In a very well sealed bag so that bacteria can’t get in. It’s sort of like us with sin, us in the flesh are constantly warring with every type of sin, there is no temptation given us that is not common to the whole human race.

On the other hand, Jesus Christ shed his blood to wash sin away. He isn’t like us; he never sinned, instead sin when it comes in contact with him is incinerated, the same way that alcohol kills bacteria. So I think we should be using real wine for the Lord’s Supper, but only a little wine, for multiple reasons. The Corinthians were having huge parties and calling them the Lord’s Supper, and Paul yelled at them for it.

We’ll talk more about the Lord’s Supper in a future class.

February 22nd - Christian Living

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Fever
Leon Preaching
E-Team - Dream Come True outreach
Superbowl Efforts at Home and in Tampa
Marriage Seminar

Praise Report
Michelle Sloan new job

Text - 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Before we start, I want to tell you a little about the Superbowl and then clarify some things from about a month ago. We had 110 people with our group, ranging from age 6 to 80, every type of person too. We handed out over 100,000 Gospel tracts, mostly "Superbowl Trivia", but a lot of others too. Many stepped out of their comfort zone to do things they had never done before. Some had never handed out tracts and they did, some had never had a 1-on-1 conversation and they did for the first time, some had never open-air preached, and they did for the first time. It was really neat to see people growing in Christ. Evangelism is the best way to grow in the faith, it's not the only way, but it is the best way. Paul wrote to Philemon, "I pray that in the sharing of your faith you become efficient for every good thing that is in you for the sake of Christ."

I think I preached 35 times, I lost count though, during so I got heckled, had a cigarette thrown at me, and was cursed at by a drunk pastor. I don't think she was saved, actually I'm quite certain of it. I lost my voice on Friday night, and it came back, then again on Saturday, and it came back, then on Sunday, and it came back...it didn't really come back on Monday, but it did sort of come back and I went to KSU with Erin Oakley and preached there, my voice kept squealing, and that actually helped to draw a crowd. I want to share my sermon with you just so you can get an example of how I preach in the Open-Air.

Folks, can I have your attention for just one moment, as you can see by my Diamondbacks shirt, I’m from Phoenix. Somebody told me the D-Backs have a better chance of winning the Superbowl than the Cardinals, pretty rough...but I don’t really care about that, but I do care where you spend eternity.

I’m not out here to judge you, but I do ask you to judge yourself. The Bible says good people go to Heaven, and bad people do not. It is imperative that you make sure you’re a good person, and if you’re not, that you do something about it. Test yourself and find out…If you’ve told one lie, in the same way that murdering one person makes you a murderer, telling one lie makes you a liar. If you’ve ever stolen anything, then God sees you as a Steeler…wait…that’s not right…he sees you as a thief. When you take God’s name in vain, you set your mouth against Heaven, you declare war on the God who made you.

Here is the one that got me, you’ve heard it said of old, thou shalt not commit adultery, but Jesus said, “Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

If you’re honest, you’re just like the rest of us, you’re not a good person, but a bad person, a sinner, and in God’s eyes you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart…pretty heavy, huh?! All liars will have their place in the Lake of Fire, all thieves, blasphemers, and adulterers will be excluded from the kingdom of Heaven. I am the chief of sinners, I am the least of saints.

So how do you become a saint? How can you be forgiven? God, with the great love that he has for us, sent his perfect sinless Son to die on a cross bearing your sins so that you might be forgiven. You broke the law, Jesus Christ paid your fine. Now you can go to Heaven when you die, not because you are a good person, but because you are a very bad person forgiven by a very good God who paid your fine on the cross. So Repent towards God, and Trust in Jesus Christ, that his payment on that cross was entirely sufficient to pay your way into Heaven. I implore you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be reconciled to God! Have a nice day, enjoy the game, go Cardinals!

So, two things I want to correct, apologize for, and use for training in righteousness are from our lesson on purity from January 11th. The main reason I want to go back over this is because I think I might have made it sound a little too easy, I want you to know that purity and fighting against sin is hard, it is not just an easy choice where you say, "I'm just not going to put myself in that situation and therefore won't have to worry about it." Because the situation will find you. I was witnessing 1-on-1 and sort of got separated from my group, I could see my group from where I was, but they were a ways off. I noticed a young-lady standing outside of a bar and looked at her with the intent of witnessing to her, she saw me look at her and she initiated the conversation.

I talked to her for a while about where she worked and other stuff, the reason she had left the club was because someone had touched her inappropriately, which is another reason you shouldn't put yourself in situations like that. After a while of talking to her, I asked her if she went to church anywhere. That's usually a pretty good ice-breaker to switch to spiritual things.

Up to this point she was tipsy, but not drunk, but she must have finished her drink before she left the club, because all of the sudden she wasn't sober anymore, but quite drunk. I was witnessing to her and she said, "I don't want to talk about this anymore," and stepped forward and kissed me, right on the lips.

I pushed her away, and tried to continue the conversation, but she didn't want to, and she decided to leave. I put a tract in her jacket pocket. When she kissed me I instantly remembered that I had said, "I'm not kissing another girl until she's my wife."

Besides that, I also told you I wasn’t dating another girl except with the intent of marrying her. Well I wrecked that too. There is a young lady here at Summit that I’ve been praying about, talking to, hanging out with trying to figure out if it would be worthwhile to go to the next level, well things got a little complicated between us. Fortunately I didn’t kiss her too.

I also want to share something I’m seeing, mostly in the high school, and remember from being your age. Fortunately this slightly gets better as you get older, but you might meet someone and all of the sudden all of the love in the world doesn’t matter to you if it’s not from that person. If this happens, just remember that you are loved by all sorts of people, your parents, your pastors, your friends, and your God; and one person not loving you isn’t the end of the world.

I also wanted to share with you that this sort of thing isn’t easy, you have to make a stand to remain pure, and when you fall out of purity (and beloved, I pray that it doesn’t happen, but it has a good chance of happening) that you don’t just give up, but that you stand back up and continue forward towards holiness, press forward for the glory of Christ, know that for those in Jesus Christ, there is now no condemnation.

I think this is an excellent example to lead into 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12, not that we’re working our way to Heaven, because we can’t do that, but me, as the chief of sinners, and you guys, have been made the least of saints by Christ’s work on the cross. Our response is not to earn our way to Heaven, because where sin increases, grace abounds all the more, our response is to glorify God.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

v. 9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you,

So, what’s the difference between brotherly love and other kinds of love? Brotherly love is expressed between Christians, it is sacrificial, not expecting repayment, nor having any end. Say one of you had something you needed to talk to Dave about that was important, and after you talked to him on the phone for an hour he said, “Ok, every student gets 1 hour of talk time a year with me, your hour is up, talk to you next year.” Would that be very loving? No, not at all!

The Thessalonians weren’t doing anything of the sort, Paul commended them for having nothing to be corrected on. The rest of the verse tells why:

v. 9-10 for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

Their being taught by God indicates the new heart they received when they were saved. Their old stony heart removed and a new heart of flesh installed. Heart is how the Bible describes the emotions, it is not physically the organ in your chest that pumps blood, your heart change wasn’t accomplished through open-chest surgery, but by a supernatural work of God.

The proof of that heart change isn’t just in word, saying, “You’ve been given a new heart that seeks after God,” but it is proved by what Thessalonica was doing for all of her brothers throughout Macedonia.

At the Superbowl one of the great moments was seeing a lot of my friends from all over the country who our only point of similarity is Jesus Christ. And also another great moment was meeting Christians I’d never met before and the instantaneous bond we had together. This new heart is capable of knowing the truth when love is happening and when it is not.

Now, imagine a blind person walking along, minding their own business, when out of no-where a football player tackles them. Is that very loving? Doesn’t seem like it, does it, you should never just tackle someone.

But wait, now imagine that blind person was one step from walking over a thousand-foot-cliff to their death on jagged rocks below? Now is it loving what the football player did? Yes, much more so, because he saved them from certain death.

James 5:19-20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

So the Thessalonians were probably being loving in a lot of ways, not just in supplying food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, shelter and clothing to the needy, but also in preaching the Gospel so that more would be saved.

There are a lot of ways to show love, and sometimes these are subtle. Not to boast, but just so you know, these lessons take a long time to prepare, usually about five hours. I get a lot out of preparing them, but I’m not doing it for myself, I’m doing it for you guys, I feel like it’s the best way to demonstrate my love to you. Still, I know that sometimes this doesn’t fulfill whichever need you may have, so if you need something else, what you’ve gotta do is ask. Say you want someone to come to a piano recital, or soccer game, or whatever, I’d love to do that, or maybe you just want to talk, but how am I going to know about these things if you don’t ask. One thing I’m hoping to do, if Dave approves it, is go to a Braves game in the middle of May.

Finally, an excellent way to demonstrate your love for someone, in a way that they may never know, is through prayer. I’d really encourage you to go to your parents and make sure they are praying for you and that you are praying for them. Prayer is such a big subject that I can’t emphasize how important it is.

v. 10 But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,

Keep doing it, get better at it, don’t stop. Paul goes on to give an example of how to do it more and more.

v. 11 aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands

In aspiring to live quietly Paul means not to gossip, not to cause unneeded problems, to resolve problems without suing one another. Paul was writing from Corinth, which had all sorts of problems between neighbors, both in Christians and non, but the Christian should not be constantly having petty squabbles with other Christians.

Minding your own affairs means to take care of your household and problems before trying to fix other people’s problems. Jesus said, “Judge not, lest you be judged.” Then he goes on to give instructions on how to judge others. He pretty much said, “Work out your own salvation before you worry about others salvation.”

Working with your hands is almost an afterthought it seems like. Paul didn’t give a lot of thought to this one, but it would become a major issue in Thessalonica, they would quit their jobs waiting for Christ’s return, but at this moment it was a non-issue and Paul spent almost no time on it. Paul was a tent-maker by trade, he didn’t have to beg for food, because he had goods to sell, a trade to make money.

v. 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

Here is the purpose, the application, so that you may rightly represent Christ to unbelievers, not having to beg for food or shelter. A church that is always suing, always involved in vain-politics, always being contentious is going to earn a bad reputation for menial things. The world is going to hate the church for being the salt that stings their open-wounds, we don’t want to give them more reasons to hate us or to be offended at anything other than the cross of Christ.

The Application for you is to avoid gossip, seek to live at peace with everyone as much as possible, and to work hard at school and college and/or your apprenticeship so that you are able to support yourself. There is a joy in working with your hands that you won’t receive in working as an engineer or architect, but that doesn’t mean that those jobs aren’t worthwhile for you to do. However, pay attention while on Builders for Christ trips, or help your dad change the oil in the car, learn how to work with your hands. If you learn basic mechanical skills on your car it will save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime doing your own basic maintenance. Know also though that it isn’t terrible to go to an expert. I had a minor plumbing issue in my house that I started to work on, which proved to be a major plumbing issue, but my pride got in the way and I continued to do it all on my own. I got it done, and done right, but the time and frustration wasn’t worth it.

I think our joy derives from being created in the image of God, the Imagio Dei, that God created everything, and in working with our hands, we arrange things into an ordered structure that reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Sometimes we think that God has hands because we have hands, that he has ears because he has ears, that he created things because we create things…but that is exactly backwards. We have hands so we’ll understand what God means when he says he holds us in his hand, we have ears so we’ll understand that God hears and understands, we create things because God first created things.

So, love one another in a brotherly fashion, sacrificially without expectation of repayment, love isn’t always ushy-gushy or without pain but sometimes has to involve admonition and correction. Also don’t gossip, don’t meddle, take care of your own household first, and learn how to support yourself apart from state-sponsorship.

February 15th - Prayer

Prayer Requests
Superbowl Efforts at Home and in Tampa
Pastor Aaron & Family & Summit on Prayer
Ben, Holly, and Cecilia
Students & Families Traveling
Bethany's friend's health from school
Michelle Sloan Job

Text - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-20

Summit is having a “Prayer Sunday” today, so I’ve skipped a few verses much to my chagrin, since now we’ve skipped two sections of this Epistle. Next week we will definitely get to chapter 4, verses 9-12.

The section we’re going to look at is on prayer. Paul started out this Epistle in prayer, and now he’s finishing it up in prayer, plus there was some prayer in the middle. Prayer is important. Do you remember what the five types of prayer are?

Petitioning – Asking for something for yourself
Intercession – Praying for God to do something for someone
Supplication – Asking God to do something through someone
Thanksgiving/Praise – Thanking God for doing

Imprecation – Asking God to squish someone

So, lets read our passage, everybody turn to

1 Thessalonians 5:16-20 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

The first thing we see is some of the silly numbering of verses in this passage, look at verse 16, Rejoice always, verse 17, pray without ceasing, then they get to somewhat normal length.
Lets look at some others real quick,

Job 3:2 And Job said:

John 11:35 Jesus wept.

Esther 8:9 The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.

Now everybody flip to Mark 7:16, whose Bible has it? The problem with the chapter numbers and verse numbers is that they were put in place by one man, Robert Stephanus, and everybody followed him. He didn’t have the best manuscripts, although he did have some pretty good ones. By the time they realized he had made some mistakes it was too late, and fortunately every Bible you find will match up, which is why I can tell you to look at a certain chapter and verse and we’re always on the same page, no matter the translation.

Other religious books aren’t this way, for a little while I had the idea to convert Muslims, it was an extremely difficult ministry, with very little fruit, but one of the things I’d find is I’d tell them to look up something in the Koran and they’d say, “That verse has nothing to do with what we’re talking about.” So I’d read or post the verse, and they’d say, “oh, that’s not verse 9, that’s verse 17…” It made it very difficult to communicate from their book.

The chapters and verses are in most places very well placed, in others they are horrendously placed, for example, the break-up between Hebrews chapter 4 and 5, and 5 and 6 are terrible, as well as Genesis 1 and 2. These verse break-ups have wrecked theology too, consider

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

It sounds like it stands alone, but this verse was never meant to stand-alone, lets read it in context

John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Now it makes sense, just as in Israel when they were beset with poisonous snakes, the only way for them to be saved if they got bit was to look to God’s sign, which was a serpent which Moses had lifted up in the wilderness on a stake. Therefore Christ was saying, if anyone is poisoned with sin, the only way they will be saved is to look to God’s sign, which is the Messiah, lifted up in the wilderness on a cross.

So, that took us a little off topic, but it was important enough that I wanted to share it. The chapters and verses should never be read alone, but in context. A great one that people think deals directly with prayer is

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

Sounds like if there are two or three of us gathered in Christ’s name, then he’s with us? So he must be here?

What about the poor Apostle John exiled on the island of Patmos all alone? Was he without God? Or what about Daniel in the lion's den? Was he all alone? Esther by herself in the palace? All alone? Of course not!

Micah 7:8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.

Matthew 28:20 Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Hmmm…if we're all alone, should we cry out, “God would be with me if there were two or three of us…but woe is me…I’m all alone!” God is with you always, even to the end of the age, you can pray anytime you want, anywhere you want, with anybody you want, alone if you want to or in massive groups.

Lets read Matthew 18 in context real quick, then we’ll get to 1 Thessalonians 5.

Matthew 18:15-20 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

Christ is giving directions on how to judge someone in the church. If someone is sinning, the first thing we do is approach them by ourselves. Say Dave Snyder won’t stop cursing, I go to him and say, “Dave, I’m worried about your soul, because out of the mouth the heart professes, and your cursing is inconsistent with a regenerate soul. So if you’re saved, you’ve gotta stop, if you’re not saved, you need to get saved.” If Dave would turn right there and stop sinning, saying maybe, “Wow, I didn’t realize I was doing that,” or “I didn’t know that was disrespectful to God and misrepresenting Jesus Christ so I'll stop,” then the issue would die. But if he said, “Nope.” Then the next step is I’d grab a pastor and two or three of us would approach Dave. If he still wouldn’t stop, we’d present it to the church. Dave’s choice would be to stop cursing or to be disfellowshipped until he did. We wouldn’t do this to be mean, but to keep blatant sin out of the church, and to let Dave know that we’re serious about his soul, because if we said it was alright, somebody with a major sin problem might think they’re alright, instead of working out their salvation with fear and trembling, repenting towards God and trusting in Jesus Christ that he alone is good and able to save their soul because he died on a cross to pay for all of their sins. We’re looking for fruit keeping with repentance, we’re not going to call out every sin, but look for the big ones or ones that seem to keep recurring.

So the verse that everybody thinks is about prayer is really about bearing witness against a sinning or false brother, that if two or three saints are in agreement with the Bible and confront someone with it, then the Holy Spirit will be there also testifying with them.

So, that was a long ways to say two things;

1. Read everything in context.
2. God is with you in the largest of crowds or the remotest desert island, and he hears your prayers whether you’re with two or three others or all by yourself.
3. Also…call people out when they use this verse wrong, because it really misrepresents God pretty badly to say he will only show up for crowds and not for individuals.

So lets go on with the lesson, now that half the time is up…verses 16 and 18 go together, so I’m going to read them together. Verse 17 will get more focus in a minute.

v. 16,18 Rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

We find it easy to rejoice in good things, but hard sometimes in bad things. You guys remember I was told you I wasn’t dating another person until I was certain that was the person I was going to marry? Well I thought maybe I’d found her, truthfully I haven’t known her very long, maybe four months, but I was excited that we became such good friends so fast, I wasn’t sure and was going to continue being friends with her until October when I graduated, then thought I’d start dating her then. Then we went to lunch, just as friends, and she told me she is moving soon…far away…her mind is pretty made up to move, but we had a nice talk about us dating and stuff and decided it just isn’t right right now. Ouch. It’s good in a way, because there is no way I could devote any sort of attention to someone right now in school, but it still hurts.

Or let me give you a much worse scenario, say someone you love a lot dies.

So how do you rejoice in circumstances like that? Well first you cry a little…because nobody says you can’t be sad, but remember we don’t mourn as those who have no hope. But we remember that God is in control and the he has promised to use all things for good to those that love him. (Romans 8:28)

One of my friends was on a missions trip to Africa, and a little four year old girl got really sick. The family had just been converted to Christianity and they asked him to do a miracle of healing on her. Healings are fickle things because it’s totally up to God and he knows what he’s doing. My friend was terrified to pray over the girl because he didn’t know what would happen if she didn’t get better. Lots of people came, both Christians (very few) and Muslims (very many) to hear and watch him pray. The girl didn’t get better and died a week later. The father of the girl wasn’t angry and didn’t reject God, because he knew his little girl was in Heaven and he would see her again.

Where does the rejoicing come in? At the funeral the whole village came, 90% or more Muslim, and they saw that the family did not mourn as those who have no hope, but trusted in God who raises the dead. Several Christians preached about the hope that is within them because Jesus Christ came and died for their sins and defeated death on the third day, and most of the crowd was converted to Christianity at the funeral of this little girl. God was and is and always will be in control.

A lot of things that will happen to you will strengthen you to minister to others or will force you to rely more on God, and in that I rejoice. For example, now when one of you gets a broken heart, and it’s bound to happen, I’ll know better what you’re going through. A much bigger example is two of our members lost a baby, and in seeking answers went to church and got saved. Not only that, but they are both now exceedingly equipped to minister to both Christians and non-Christians who lose children, which unfortunately is a major problem, it is estimated that 1 in 5 babies won’t survive to be born and that’s not even counting abortions.

Wow, this took longer than I expected, I’m going to go into prayer now since we’re running out of time. The beginning of this Epistle was super easy to go verse by verse, the end is not so easy, a lot packed into these verses.

v. 17 pray without ceasing

Other translations may say, “Pray unceasingly.” Does this mean that right now because we’re not all praying we’re wrong? No, it means to have a constancy of prayer about you, pray frequently, there shouldn’t be big blocks of time where you haven’t prayed.

Sometimes things will happen that make you not want to pray, this is the most important time for you to pray. I really didn’t want to pray after everything happened with that girl and finally I did and I felt a lot better afterwards. Sometimes a prayer should be long, sometimes short. I think the shortest I’ve ever prayed was on the way to YEC when a car behind us did something stupid, coupled with me doing something stupid, and he almost hit us and my prayer was, “Help!” There was nothing else I could do, and that car missed us by inches.

I remember a story I heard at a church I went to with a friend where the pastor said as a little boy he used to need to talk to God so he’d sprint home, fly through the living room, down the hall, and his room had a hard-wood floor so he’d slide in on his knees up to his bed and pretty much say the same thing I’d said, “God, I need help!” He’d been so trained by his parents to pray before bed that he thought that was the only place he could pray from. You don’t have to be on your knees or by your bed or in any sort of configuration to pray, but you do have to be a Christian, because God only hears righteous prayers, (1 Peter 3:12, Psalm 34:15-16) and those prayers, as you remember, are made righteous by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:26)

Finally, as we’re out of time, Israel in the Old Testament really wanted a king, they wanted a king because everybody else had a king. God said it wasn’t time for them to have a king yet, but they wanted one. Samuel, the prophet at the time, yelled at them,

1 Samuel 12:19-24 And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king." And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king."

They were under a different covenant, they had to keep their salvation, we’re under a New Covenant, Christ has purchased our salvation once for all on Calvary’s cross.

But notice that Samuel said, ‘I will not sin by ceasing to pray for you…’ One of the reasons is because that is a duty of a priest, and we are a priesthood of believers. Our prayers will draw us closer to God, make us look more like God, and help us to trust in him more. Finally, one of the greatest prayer verses in the Bible,

James 5:13-18 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.