Comfort For Believers - 1 Thess 3:1-5 | Adult Sunday School

Let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Justin. Sorry. Can we test the piano one more time? We had the volume set too high up here.

Turn it up in the monitor a little bit, please. Good, thank you. Who names the stars that sing

His fame in skies above? Oh, praise to Him who reigns like seas above, yet bends to hear our every prayer with sovereign power and tender praise to Him whose love we see in Christ the

Son, the Serpent King, who left behind His glory stones to pay the ransom for, to bear us all on sufficient sacrifice.

How's that? There we go. Good morning, everyone. Good to see you all. As one of my teachers used to say, all the

A students are in their seats. This morning, we're going to begin a study through the

Old Testament prophet Haggai. Haggai, the minor prophet. And there is a set of notes for this, and some of them have been passed out, but I'm pretty sure there's going to be enough.

Does everybody get a set of notes? If not, I think there's still some. Yeah, right over here, there's some. So help yourself to those, and maybe find your way to Haggai in the

Old Testament. Haggai, the minor prophet, one of the 12 minor prophets.

And as you know, they're called minor prophets, kind of an unfortunate term. It's not like American baseball, you know, where you start in the minors and work your way up to the majors.

The 12 minor prophets were, of course, they're just shorter in length. That's all, really, they're all there is to it.

And so we're going to be working our way through Haggai over the next several weeks, starting today, and for, it'll be a total of four weeks, because there's only 38 verses.

He's a minor prophet, and it's relatively short, but it's also very powerful, a very powerful part of God's Word, as we're going to see.

So we're going to approach it today. We're going to go through the first chapter, but also we're going to want to set up the context in its historical context, and hopefully we'll see it, too, in its theological context and place this really important prophecy in its historical setting a little bit.

So we're going to be looking first at Ezra in the Old Testament. So you might find your way to Ezra, and we're going to start there, because Ezra was one of the returned exiles who came after Haggai did, and he also wrote the history of this period of time.

And so it's going to be, I think, profitable for us to go and spend a little bit of time in Ezra to set the context for our study through Haggai.

So we're going to be looking at both Ezra and also Haggai this morning, Haggai chapter 1.

And before we do, let's commit our time to our Lord and ask His blessing on our study this morning.

Our Father, we do thank You for the privilege that we have to be able to gather here, to be able to gather in the name of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and now, Father, to study Your Word. We know we are totally dependent on You to be our teacher by Your Spirit, and so we would just ask

Your blessing on our study over these weeks. We ask that You would show us what

You would have us learn, that You would apply these great truths to our lives, help us to be eager to hear, quick to obey, and then we will give

You all glory in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Well, if you found your way to Ezra, the historian, way deep back in the

Old Testament, and as you're going to see, one of the challenges in studying these

Old Testament books is, of course, trying to set them in their proper timeline.

At least it is for me. I'll confess that right now. Sometimes it's a little confusing, the way the timelines work.

And they are also giving us time stamps, and we're going to see that Haggai has been called the most time -sensitive of the prophets.

He dates his oracles or his speeches down to the day, and we're going to see that as we get there.

So if you found your way to Ezra chapter 1, turn to the left to 2

Chronicles chapter 36. I tricked you a little bit. If we're going to look at the history, we also need to know what happened to Judah.

What was going on? Why were they taken captive for 70 years? And so we're just going to go through this last part of 2

Chronicles chapter 36 and set the stage a little bit for the prophet

Haggai. Haggai, of course, came back after the exile and ministered to the people who returned from the exile, but why were they taken into the exile in the first place?

It's important for us to know that. In 2 Chronicles 36, which is also a post -exilic history or chronicles of the history of the nation, 1 and 2

Kings are pre -exilic. We're going to just get a taste here. We're going to start in verse 5 of chapter 36.

And remember now, this is just kind of coming down to the end. This had been a long -term decline in the nation of Judah.

A whole series of kings. There was a few bright lights in there, here and there. Some tried to make some reforms, but for the most part, it was a series of wicked kings in power in Judah.

And the prophets were prophesying this whole time, especially Jeremiah. He's just banging away at this nation, calling them to account, rebuking them for their sin.

Not only the kings, but also the spiritual leaders, the priests. They had a corrupt priesthood.

They had false prophets that were giving false prophecies to the people. All the while, they are engaged in idolatry and all kinds of perversions.

And the business practices were corrupt. And the kings themselves, for the most part, were very corrupt.

And one of them was Jehoiakim, kind of coming down to the last few here. Verse 5 of 2

Chronicles 36. And I'm just going to kind of move quickly through here. And this is sort of a condensed timeline of these events.

So we're going to be around 605 B .C. here. And I already made up my mind. Because I know how

I feel when I just get peppered with dates. You're studying history. Pretty soon, it's like, oh, I've got all these dates. And especially when you're studying the

Old Testament. I mean, we are in 2021, and so we sort of have that timeline that even the first century

Christians were on. We're in the 21st century. But once you get into the Old Testament, you know the timeline flips around.

It's a mirror image. And so it goes the other way. And that can get a little bit confusing.

They didn't have that timeline. They still counted time based on who was the king. So you might see in the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar, in the 9th year, and then in the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar.

So even though we're looking at it, the timeline is going the opposite way, they're counting time back in the other way. So it can get a little confusing.

So hopefully, we can sort of set this in its proper perspective.

But in verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 36, Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign.

And he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord his God. Now at this point in time, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army were in occupation.

And they had been probably since around 605 B .C. Four years before the

Babylonian Empire came into power when they defeated the Ninevites, the

Assyrians, right? And so their presence as a power in the area pretty much starts at 609.

But they were just in occupation now. They had probably taken a few people captive at this point in time.

There was a series of deportations back to Babylon. Daniel would have been one of those early ones, also the prophet

Ezekiel. But here we are, these evil kings, and he did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord his God. Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.

He gets deported. And what follows is very interesting. Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the

Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. Remember in that day when one army besieged another country, it wasn't just my army defeating your army, and now we got you and we've occupied you.

It was also my God has defeated your God. And so they just would go into the temple, which he did, and they would take their

God's stuff. And in this case, it was the sacred vessels that God had set aside way back when and set them aside and made them holy for the purpose of worshiping

Yahweh. And he deports them back to Babylon and puts them in his temple.

Daniel 1 .1 also mentions this. You can look that up when you have time. And then verse 8,

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations that he did and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

So that would be the pre -exilic history of the book of the kings. And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his place.

Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And as you might expect, in the spring of the year,

King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the precious vessels of the house of the

Lord and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah did what was evil in the sight of the

Lord, his God. And then there's a whole list of his transgressions. It gets very detailed. And as you might expect, it was wholesale.

As the leader goes, so goes the country. And it's just an absolute spiritual political train wreck.

Verse 14, All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations.

And they polluted the house of the Lord that He had made holy in Jerusalem, the

Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.

But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the

Lord rose against His people until there was no remedy. Jeremiah had probably been prophesying at this point for around 22, 23 years.

And he just persistently called the people to repentance, called the kings to repentance. And he just confronts the false prophets and the corrupt priesthood over and over and over again, warning about the judgment of God that's going to come on them, even prophesying the 70 -year captivity that's going to happen.

But all spurs through there, and we're going to see some of these passages, he also promises them

God's restoration. Why? Because even though they were violating the Mosaic covenant that God had given, the

Mosaic covenant, as you know, is a covenant of law. It was a bilateral covenant. Not only when that covenant was made was the blood of the sacrifice poured out on the altar, which represented

God's part of it. They were also spattered. Remember that? They had a basin of blood and they put the hyssop branch in it and they spattered the people with the blood.

That would have been a clear, audio -visual representation of their responsibility, but they failed.

That covenant promised blessing for obedience, cursing, chastening for disobedience.

And that's exactly where they were at this point in their history. But there was another covenant that had been made centuries before the

Abrahamic covenant. That covenant was a unilateral, unconditional covenant in which

God promised that nation perpetuity as a nation and as a people. It also promised them land, a seed line, and we're going to look at that, but also blessing, blessing through them to the nations.

And that covenant is not conditioned upon their behavior. It is not conditioned upon their obedience.

It was all of God to take care of that. He takes all the responsibility onto himself in that covenant.

Repeatedly, Genesis 12, he says, I will, I will, I will, I will. And so when Jeremiah refers to the promises of God, the restoration of God, that's what he's referring to.

That's what saved them from total annihilation was the Abrahamic covenant. But right now, they're under the consequences.

We come up to about 586 B .C. in verse 17. By this time, Nebuchadnezzar has pretty much had it.

He's the occupying force, the occupying army. It says, therefore, he brought up against them the king of the

Chaldeans. None of the he there is God. This is God carrying out his judgment that he had warned them about, prophesied about.

Who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged.

He gave them all into his hand. And here we go again. All the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the

Lord, and the treasures of the king and his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels.

There were other structures in the temple, some big brass columns, bronze columns. They had this big bronze basin, a labor that was sitting on the back of bronze bowls.

Well, they just broke all that stuff apart and hauled the bronze back to Babylon. Tore everything down, destroyed the walls of the city, made it desolate.

And here's why. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the king of Persia.

And when you see that word until in scripture, you're bumping up against an end point. Until this period of time came to a stop.

And it came to a stop in 539. This is Daniel chapter 5, right? Remember the handwriting on the wall that night?

And the Babylonians were inside that great walled city. They felt really secure because it was a tremendous fortification.

And they were having a drunken orgy, worshiping their false gods in a religious ceremony, which was nothing more than a carnal, drunken orgy.

And they were getting drunk using the vessels from the Holy Temple from Jerusalem that night.

Remember that? This guy's name was Belshazzar. And then remember the handwriting on the wall? And he had to go get

Daniel, who had been taken captive, to interpret it for him. And I like that story because his knees were shaking, you know, as he saw.

And Daniel interpreted it for him, you know. Basically, you've been weighed in the balance, and you're a lightweight.

And that very night, the city was taken from the inside by the Medo -Persian coalition.

They stormed up through the Euphrates River, which they built the city over the river, and they had gates.

Well, the Medo -Persians went upstream and diverted the river that night. And the river dropped down to the point where that marshaled army just swarmed right into the middle of that city.

Took it from the inside out. And then one night, that entire city fell. That's why this chronicle says, until the establishment of the king of Persia.

And it was over for the Babylonians. From 609 to 539, that empire came to a terrible end that night.

But here's verse 21. This is a purpose statement. To fulfill the word of the

Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. Okay? God's word comes to pass. Until, here it is again, an end point.

Until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths, all the days that it lay desolate, it kept

Sabbath to fulfill 70 years. What is this about fulfilling

Sabbaths? Well, Leviticus 25, back in the law. Leviticus 26 had required that they had their land.

They were in their land, but they were required to let that land lie. Old King James term, fallow or desolate.

Don't plant the land periodically. They didn't do that. And they had actually accumulated over several centuries, 70

Sabbath years that that land had to lay desolate or fallow.

That was part of their violation of the law. And God is actually now going to implement it for them.

They go out of the land in captivity. Everything is desolate, and it stays that way for 70 years.

Now, that's the background for what we're going to look at next. 70 years later, in 538, and this is verse 22 and 23, the king,

Cyrus, the Persian king, who's now in power, he issues a decree to let these people go, let the

Jews go back and rebuild their temple. God had promised to bring them back into the land.

Now, verse 22 and 23, I'm not going to read through that because it virtually is identical to the first three verses of Ezra chapter 1.

Now we arrive at Ezra chapter 1, the history of the people back in the land.

And it says, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the

Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. He keeps coming back to this. This is fulfillment of God's word.

Jeremiah was right, basically he's saying, and God is going to fulfill his word through Jeremiah. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.

This is fascinating to me. Here you have a godless pagan king of a major kingdom. He's just wiped out the

Babylonians. He's in power now. The Jews are there in this land in captivity, and yet God stirs him up to let them go back in fulfillment of his prophecy.

It's amazing. A pagan king. Did you think God couldn't use an unbeliever? God can use whatever he wants.

He's the sovereign lord of this universe. One of the great themes all the way through the Bible. And so it says in verse 3, whoever is among you of all his people, may his

God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the

Lord. This is very important. Cyrus knew why he was letting these people go back to Judah.

It was for the purpose of rebuilding the temple. This is very important to remember. He knew it, and eventually they forgot it.

And he says, let each survivor, in verse 4, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts.

Besides free will offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Not only is he issuing a decree to let the Jews go back and rebuild their temple, it's going to be paid for by the kingdom.

It's an amazing thing. They're going to have an all expense paid trip back to be able to build their temple back.

Why? Because the worship of Yahweh is important to him. And that's what the temple was for.

To reestablish the worship of God. And the temple was also the place where God dwelt with them in that point in time.

One Old Testament scholar, Dr. Eugene Merrill said, the real tragedy of the exile was not the removal of the people, nor even the utter destruction of the city and the temple.

It was the departure of their God from their midst. An absence symbolized in one of Ezekiel's visions by the movement of the

Shekinah. That was that brilliant, blazing representation of God that dwelt over the

Ark of the Covenant in the temple. You remember the vision of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 10 and 11.

He saw that glory move off of the top of where it dwelt in the Holy of Holies to the threshold of the temple and out the door and then eventually over the

Mount of Olives. And then it was gone. And that represented, because of your sin, because of your idolatry, the glory has departed.

Sad and tragic event. Another scholar says this concerning the removal of objects from a temple.

Taking temple objects was common in times such as this, as it represented the complete military and religious conquest of a city.

Again, it's not just my army is going to beat your army. My God is better than your

God and is going to dominate your God. That's an important issue here. But here he is, issues the decree.

They're going to even pay for it. And what follows in verse 7 through 11, I find absolutely fascinating.

Remember all the vessels that were taken back? After 70 years of captivity, they're still there.

And they're not just there. They're there down to the very vessel. In verse 7,

Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.

Cyrus, king of Persia, brought these out in the charge of Mithridat, the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazar, the prince of Judah.

Sheshbazar, as some scholars would say, well, there's two different people there that are leading the return.

One is Zerubbabel, who is mentioned in Haggai. And then the other one was

Sheshbazar. Probably the best way to see that is Sheshbazar was his Chaldean name. When they got taken captive into Chaldea, they would give them new names, just like Daniel was given another name and the three young men as well.

It's the same person, I think, is the best way to see it. He's the one who's going to lead them back. And this whole passage reads almost like a forensic chain of evidence, right?

Carefully being delineated out. He even gets a treasurer, probably had a pencil behind his neck and a clipboard, you know, and he's counting these things out.

And this was the number of them. Now they're even numbered and recorded. 30 basins of gold, 1 ,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1 ,000 other vessels.

All the vessels of gold and silver were 5 ,400. All these did Sheshbazar, or Zerubbabel, bring up when the exiles were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

He's making a real point of these vessels that have survived not only the destruction of Jerusalem and the city and the temple, but taken into captivity 900 plus miles away in Babylon.

They survived 70 years in the hands of these pagans. And here they are being carefully counted out so they can go back to Jerusalem, be put back in the temple for the worship of Yahweh.

That's an amazing thing. But God is superintending this whole thing. Well, those are even enumerated before the people are.

In chapter 2 of Ezra, if you see there from verse 3 all the way down to 39, see all the people listed there in the numbers?

Okay? How about I volunteer to read through that this morning so that... No, no, no, no. We won't do that. You can just see, though, how many people are there.

They're counting out the people. After they count out the sacred vessels. And then it moves on through, and they're talking about all the different people that were going to come back.

We get all the way down to verse 64, and it says, The whole assembly together was 42 ,360 male servants, female servants.

They have horses and mules, camels and donkeys, and so on. And then again, a mention of all of the money and silver and everything and gold that they were taking back in order to finance the rebuilding of the new temple, the rebuilt temple.

It's about a 900 -plus mile trip from Babylon all the way back down into Judah. And it would have been quite an undertaking for these people to do this.

Well, that's kind of a real race through the background here. And let's look in your notes.

I'm going to let you go through, for the sake of time, the first page. There are page 2. And then

I just want to look at one thing. I hope you can find some time to read through this. And find some time, if you can, to read through Ezra, like the first six chapters, because that's going to give you a real sense of what's going on as we move through Haggai.

The overarching theme, this is page 3, under theological emphasis. And we want to highlight this a little bit.

The overarching theme of Haggai is the need to rebuild the Lord's house. The need to rebuild the

Lord's house. God moved Cyrus to do that, and he specifically says, Here's the reason you're going back.

It's just not you're going to be free to go do your own thing now that you're free after 70 years' captivity.

No, no. The specific purpose is for you to go back, rebuild the temple. Why? Because God wants to be worshipped.

He deserves to be worshipped. And the worship of Yahweh was their top priority. And Yahweh dwelt in the temple, and that was where he was worshipped.

And so it was so important to rebuild the Lord's house. But it's in the context of Israel's messianic hope and the promise that he will rebuild the house of David.

There's a stream of truth running through here, and it's the seed line of the promised

Messiah. Why? Because Zerubbabel, the governor at the time, is in the messianic line.

And so that line, he is a descendant of King David, and he's an ancestor of Joseph, as Matthew says, the husband of Mary, of whom

Jesus was born, who is called Christ. In all of the movement of the nations all over the place and the wars and the destruction and all this, remember,

God made a promise through Abraham. He's going to provide a seed line. He's going to provide a Messiah, and this is part of the picture.

And as we'll see as we go through Haggai, the address of the oracles, the four messages, start out fairly broadly, and then it narrows down at the end to addressing just one person, and that's

Zerubbabel. Why? Because he is in the seed line. So I'm going to let you read through the rest of three.

The outline that we're going to use is basically just the outline that's given in the book itself. So let's look at Haggai, and I think we'll have time to get through this first chapter.

Okay, so Haggai chapter 1. Now you see the background. Here they are back in Judah, and when

Haggai opens up, remember, they've been in Judah probably around 18 years. And we're going to look next time a little bit more at the history, but for the first year they were back, they didn't do much except for rebuild the altar and have a lot of sacrifices, probably because they thought, we better get busy obeying the

Word of God now or the Old Testament, which is what they did, but they didn't start the temple until at least a year later, and all they did was build the foundation.

And once they built the foundation, they stopped, and they stopped because there was opposition from the indigenous people there, probably the

Samaritans and other people groups. They probably got, it was hard work rebuilding a temple.

The smallest stones in that temple were anywhere from two to five tons, and they've actually found one existing stone, archaeologists calculate it to be 50 tons.

And so they were probably anywhere from 10 to 20 tons, these stones they had to build a foundation with, so it was hard work.

They had opposition from the people that were living there, and they probably also got discouraged, but as we're going to see, they also got concerned with their own lives.

So Haggai, this is probably around 520. It has been 16 years since they finished just the foundation of the temple.

And Haggai is called by God to confront them, to rebuke them for their laziness, for their lack of work, and to call them to rebuild the temple.

So chapter 1, verse 1 of Haggai, In the second year of Darius the king, at this time, the king is now

Darius, in the sixth month on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shaltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

In that first verse, we have the very interesting time stamp.

When you see a time stamp like that, it is really God's way of saying, this is anchored in history, much like Isaiah's call in Isaiah chapter 6.

He has five verses, five chapters kind of leading up to that to sort of give you a preview of that great prophecy.

But when he gets to the call of Isaiah in chapter 6, there is a time stamp, In the year of king Uzziah's death,

I saw the Lord. And he had that great vision. And so these time stamps are

God's way of anchoring this in history. All sound theology is anchored in history. It has to be.

If it's not, it's merely the musings of men. Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? The foundation of that is what?

The historic resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you can just go down the list. All sound doctrine is anchored in history.

When you listen to somebody who does not have a historical foundation for what they're trying to teach or propound, it's probably because it didn't ever happen.

All sound theology, all sound doctrine is anchored in history. And this is what Haggai does at this point in time.

So in your notes, the repeated date formula, anchor it in history, and Haggai is the messenger or the prophet, but the words are the words of God.

Very important. Remember what they were indicted for was rejecting the prophets, abusing the prophets, scoffing at the prophets.

Well, in doing that, since the prophets taught the word of God, proclaimed the word of God, they were rejecting God. The recipients are

Zerubbabel and Joshua, the governor. One of the comments that I found really pretty important to note, to refuse to build the

Lord's house was at best saying that it did not matter whether the Lord was present with them. At worst, it was presuming on divine grace that the

Lord would live with His people even though they willfully refused to fulfill the condition of His indwelling that He had laid down.

They have a priority to rebuild the temple because God wants to be worshipped. Another commentator said this, the need to rebuild is urgent because temples in their world are the center for administering the political, economic, judicial, social, and religious life of the nation.

In other words, rebuilding Yahweh's temple would symbolize His rule over the life of His people and His prophesied rule of the world.

Very important. When you want to take down another country, you not only go after their army and their fortress, you go after their temple.

Why? My God's better than your God. And in this case, Nebuchadnezzar's God was not.

He's gone. God's still carrying out His plan. Well, in verse 2, we have this confrontation and the command to rebuild.

It says, Thus says the Lord of hosts. And you're going to see this repeated prophetic utterance, they're called, in various forms, in 38 verses in this little short prophecy.

That occurs 29 times in various forms. So one of the main themes here is the Word of God. The Word of the

Prophet is the Word of God, and it's important to listen to it. So thus says the Lord of hosts.

These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the

Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. And this is repeated through this prophecy.

Consider your ways. The Hebrew word heart is actually included in this. Examine your heart.

Stop. Think deeply about your life, about how things are going in your life right now.

Consider your ways. And he just details how things have gone for the last 16 years since they stopped working on the temple.

You have sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill.

You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

Commentators usually stop at that point and say, there's inflation. Thus says the

Lord of hosts, consider your ways. And this is repeated. And what does he call them to do?

Get back to work. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the

Lord. They're called these people. There's distance there.

There's insulation. Normally God calls his people my people. It's almost a term of endearment.

But they're disobedient, and now he calls them these people because of their excuses and disobedience.

Why? They misused God's resources. Resources. What are the resources?

Time, treasure, and talent. They have time. They say, well, it's not time.

We don't have time. They had time. That's why they were there. They had treasure. This was being paid for and financed by the

Persian kingdom. They had no excuse there. And they also had the talent. That list back in Ezra had all kinds of craftsmen and different people that were able to work on this.

And so they don't have any excuses. They just have another agenda other than God's. Time, treasure, and talent.

They misused God's resources. That little statement there in verse 4, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses?

And, you know, later on then he calls them to go up to, basically they would go to Lebanon, cut down cedar trees, and make paneling, cedar paneling for the insides of this.

It's thought by some that maybe they had done that, and they were using some of the materials for the temple in their own homes.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a minister of Jesus Christ with a lot of wealth using money that had been given to him to buy his own stuff and do his own things and build mansions and fly around in Learjets?

Who could imagine that? But the same...

We can name names, but maybe not today. But remember, the same

God that was overseeing this is the same God here and now. And his standards don't change.

The judgment is still there, okay? Well, God calls them to get busy and go back and get more wood.

Why? Because it will please God and glorify him. Their disobedience, their obedience will please and glorify

God, but their disobedience will result in God withholding his blessing, as we see in 9 through 11. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little.

And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins.

While each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.

And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast and on all their labors.

Gets pretty granular, doesn't it? Right down to the food they're getting off their grain and their wine and their oil.

God is in charge of that. God is the sovereign God of this universe, and he's making sure that these people are feeling the pain.

Do you notice they're not starving to death? They have something. They're surviving, but they're not being blessed as they should be, back in their own lands, if they would have been obeying

God. And there's nothing wrong with building a house or planting crops. They need that, right?

These are not things that are outside of the order. These are not luxuries, you know,

I suppose maybe like a Learjet. But what the problem was, they had lost their priorities.

They had lost the top priority, which is why they were there, to rebuild the house of Yahweh for the worship of Yahweh.

I mean, this same theme runs right into the New Testament, right? Remember Jesus' Sermon on the Mount? People were worried about their livelihoods.

They were worried about their food. They were worried about their clothing. And what did he say? He said, look at the lily. Look at the lily. God's going to take care of that lily.

Aren't you more valuable than the lily? And then what does he say? Seek first, right? The kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added to you.

Their priorities were upside down, and they're being rebuked for it. They're also not experiencing the blessings that they should have.

But verse 12 starts an amazing response, the response of the people. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the

Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet. Notice the connection between the word of God and the words of the prophet.

They're obeying it now. It's a wonderful response. As the

Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the Lord. Of course, we know that that fear as it's being used there is not necessarily fearing what

God will do, although they had very good reason to, right? After 70 years of captivity and the destruction of their city, and they're looking at the entire destruction there of their city and their temple at that point in time.

But that fear, as you know, is reverence for God. Obedience to the word of God and reverence for God are closely linked all through Scripture, as you know.

And so they now are fearing the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the

Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, I am with you, declares the Lord. It's important to remember here that this is not

God's response to their obedience. It kind of looks that way, but it really isn't.

He's always been with them. And he's not responding and saying, if you obey me,

I'm going to be with you. The reason I say that is verse 14 and 15. And the

Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshaphat, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.

And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. Yes, they're obeying.

Yes, they're fearing God. Yes, they're getting back to work. But why? It's the spirit of God that's working in their lives.

And when it's all over and done with, they can't pat themselves on the back and say, oh, look what we did. Where's my trophy?

Give me a trophy for what I did. Because it's the spirit of God who is first working in their lives to move them to be obedient.

And therefore, he gets all the glory. Right? And it says in verse 15, on the 24th day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

One of the reasons I wanted to go through all 15 of those verses is because that's how it's written. There is, you see the very last verse, the very last clause there, in the second year of Darius the king.

You look up at the front, back up to 1 .1, the first clause in verse 1, in the second year of Darius the king.

So it starts and ends. And then it works its way back. The next to the last clause in 15, in the sixth month, the second clause in the sixth month at the top.

What does this do? This is simply a literary device that creates like a bracket. And very much like a bracket or even your hands, it creates a mirror image front and back that tells you that this is meant to be taken as an entire section.

It's sort of an inclusio. But it's simply a literary structure. So that's how we did it. So you see, this is where they are.

They got back to work after 16 years. And at this point, they can probably expect more of the blessings of God.

And so next time we'll get into chapter 2. But the response of the people, they obeyed the word of Yahweh and feared him.

They experienced the blessing of Yahweh and the promise of his presence. They did the work of Yahweh.

I mentioned that Jeremiah the prophet, who just hammered away, calling these people to repentance for 23 years before the captivity, also intersperses his negative prophecies and his rebukes with reminders of the promises of God.

You have one there in the very front page from Jeremiah 33.

But then there's one here at the bottom of page 5 out of that same section. For behold, days are coming, declares the

Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, says the

Lord, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.

When God gave them the land that was unconditional, unilateral promise of their land, and even though at times they were chastened and out of their land because of that, remember the captivity was not just for the purpose of chastening them.

He could have done that with the Canaanites, right? What happened to the Canaanites? They were obliterated. They were gone.

You can't find any Canaanites running around now, right? Parasites, Jebusites.

But these were the recipients of God's promise that they would perpetuate as a people, not because they're any better than anybody else, but because the sovereign

God of the universe said so. And that's true. They're brought back in the land. So when you think of somebody who would say, well, what was the purpose of the 70 -year captivity?

Well, it was the judgment of God, and it was. But it also preserved them as a people so they could be brought back, and in particular, the

Messianic seed line that we're going to see. Well, there's a couple of minutes here. So that was, you've been very patient.

That was a real marathon through here, but I hope we sort of set the stage a little bit for the rest of Haggai.

Are there any questions that you might have? Okay, quiz next time on that big list of people.

No, no, we won't have any quizzes on that. Okay, let's pray together. Our Father, thank you for your word today.

Thank you for your spirit who is our teacher. We pray, Father, that over the next several weeks you would help us to think on these great truths.

And also, Father, help us to apply them to our lives, even if it means to considering our ways and the way our lives are lived.

We hope that in doing so we can grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And now, Father, as we gather to worship you, we ask your blessing on that time and on all those who lead us.

We pray that you would give them great freedom and strength to lead us, to worship you.

And in preaching your word today, help us to be eager to hear your word and to obey it.

This is one of the lessons we see from Haggai. And so we pray that in that you would be glorified in all things.

In Christ's mighty name, amen. And he was all of your delight

He was all of your delight Father, what love you've shown to rebels

That you would send your Son so deep Into this world of grief and trouble

To bring unworthy sinners near We'll never fathom how it pained you

When you supplied the offering To rescue those who had to stay in you

To watch your dear son's suffering Jesus, it fills our hearts with wonder

That you would leave your heavenly place

To take on flesh to thirst and hunger To save the ones who spurned your grace

You came to forfeit every mercy To die that mercy we would fight

So in our hearts your grace would shine Your grace would shine

Jesus, in glory you descended Never again to leave your throne

Because of you we are befriended Received and welcomed as God's own

Father, how sweet now is your pleasure In us your daughters and your sons

We will delight in you forever In Jesus you have made us one

In Jesus you have made us one

Description too marvelous for words

Too wonderful for comprehension Like nothing ever seen or heard

Who can grasp your infinite wisdom

Who can fathom the depths of your love

You are beautiful beyond description

Majesty enthroned above I stand,

I stand in awe of you I stand,

I stand in awe of you Holy God to whom all praises due

I stand in awe of you

You are beautiful beyond description

Yet God crushed you for my sin

In agony and deep affliction

Cut off that I might enter in Who can grasp such tender compassion

Who can fathom mercy so free

You are beautiful beyond description

Lamb of God who died for I stand,

I stand in awe of you

I stand, I stand in awe of you

I stand, I stand in awe of you

Holy God to whom all praises due

I stand in awe of you.

I stand in awe. I stand in awe.

I did you.

Oh, you say that the power of day may be caught sleeping by presents.

Be thou my wisdom. How riches

I heed not. Your heads empty praise.

How my own son still be my vision.

Sing that third and fourth verse again. It's because they're so good.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise. Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise.

How my... Yes, you are!

Still be my vision. Still be my... The sands of time are sinking.

The dawn of heaven breaks. The summer warm I sigh for.

The fair sweet morn awakes.

Dark is the land.

In him and the

King therein it were a well -splendor selfless play between.

Aloud with his fair army the faults

I understand. And white he gives the fountains, the deepest streams on earth

I've tasted. More deep I'll drink above.

So true. There to an ocean's fullness his mercy

God expand. And all the glory dwell with mercy and with judgment.

I am ever tiding his dues of sorrow mustered with his love.

As the heavens roll their glory in him brings a poor wild sailor into his house of wine.

I stand upon his merit.

I know their stand.

Not even from space

I accept them.

The Lamb is over me. Yes, the

Lamb is over me.

The mystery of the cross

I cannot comprehend. The agonies of Calvary.

You the perfect Holy One crushed your son who drank the bitter cup reserved for me.

Your blood has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you.

The Father's wrath completely satisfied. Jesus, thank you.

Once your enemy now seated at your table.

Jesus, thank you. Perfect sacrifice

I've been bought near. Your enemy, your friend

Itches of your glorious grace. Your mercy and your kindness no knowing.

He has washed away my sin. Jesus, thank you.

The Father's wrath completely satisfied. Jesus, thank you.

Once your enemy now seated at your table.

Jesus, thank you. My soul wants to live for you.

Lover of my soul I want to live for you.

I want to live for you. Your blood has washed away my sin.

Jesus, thank you. The Father's wrath completely satisfied.

Jesus, thank you. Your blood has washed away my sin.

Jesus, thank you. The Father's wrath completely satisfied.

Jesus, thank you. Once your enemy now seated at your table.

Jesus, thank you. Now seated at your table.

Jesus, thank you.

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Fast unmeasured, boundless, free.

Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me.

Underneath me all around is the current of your love.

Leading onward, leading onward to your glorious rest above.

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Spread his praise from shore to shore.

How he came to pay our ransom through the saving cross he bore.

How he watches o 'er his loved ones, those he died to make his own.

How for them he's interceding, pleading now before the throne.

Oh, the deep, deep love, all

I entrust is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

Just far surpassing all the rest.

It's an ocean full of blessing in the midst of every test.

Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus.

Mighty Savior, precious friend. You will bring us home to glory where you're at.

Oh, the deep, deep love, all

I entrust is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

Is the deep, deep love of Jesus.

When this old world's battles are done, we shall see our

Savior shining like the sun.

Every tear he will dry, every shadow will flee.

All those in Christ Jesus will be made come, will be made come.

Come, Lord Jesus. Listen to creation groan.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come and take your people home.

Every tongue will praise him.

Every knee will bow when we see our

Savior shining like the sun.

Come, Lord Jesus. Listen to creation groan.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come and take your people home.

See in part, then we'll see in full.

Jesus will satisfy our soul.

See in part, then we'll see in full.

Jesus will satisfy our soul.

Lord Jesus, listen to creation groan.

And good morning, and welcome to Kootenai Church on this wonderful Sunday morning. We've had a little bit of a reprieve today with the weather, so please stand, if you would, as we sing.

We're going to start this morning singing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him, all creatures, here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen. Let the joy begin.

Let our songs ring out. Let our hearts be glad.

Love has vanished out. See the empty cross.

All our debts are gone. Only grace remains for the victories won.

Oh, what a day. What a glorious day.

Oh, what a day. What a glorious day.

When you conquered death and rose up from the grave.

What a day. What a day.

See the empty tomb. See the grave close there.

He has left this place. You won't find Him here.

All our fears have fled. Let our hopes arise.

Heaven waits for us. We will never die.

Oh, what a day. Oh, what a day.

What a glorious day. Rose up from the grave.

What a day. There is still a day that we are waiting.

When the glorious one we love appears. He will take us home with Him forever.

He will finally wipe away our tears.

Oh, what a day. What a glorious day.

Oh, what a day. What a glorious day.

When you conquered death and rose up from the grave. What a day.

What a day. Oh, what a day. We're gonna sing a song we haven't sung in probably eight years, so it's not technically a new song, but Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.

Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah. Pilgrim through this barren land.

I am weak, but Thou art mighty. Hold me with Thy powerful hand.

Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more.

Feed me till I want no more. Open now the crystal fountain.

Let the healing stream doth flow. Let the fire and cloudy pillar

Lead me all my journey through. Strong deliverer,

Strong deliverer, Be Thou still my strength and shield. Be Thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fear subside.

Bear me through the swelling current. Plan me safe on Canaan's side.

Songs of praises, Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee.

I will ever give to Thee. Bless the

Lord, O my soul, O my soul, Worship His holy name.

Sing like never before, O my soul,

I'll worship Your holy name. The sun comes up,

It's a new day dawning. It's time to sing Your song again.

Whatever may pass, And whatever lies before me,

Let me be singing When the evening comes. Bless the

Lord, O my soul, O my soul, Worship His holy name.

Sing like never before, O my soul,

I'll worship Your holy name. You're rich in love

And You're slow to anger. Your name is great And Your heart is kind.

For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons

For my heart to find. Bless the Lord, O my soul,

O my soul, Worship His holy name.

Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship

Your holy name. And on that day

When my strength is failing, The end draws near And my time has come.

Still my soul Will sing Your praise unending. Ten thousand reasons

And forever more. Bless the Lord, O my soul,

O my soul, Worship His holy name.

Sing like never before, O my soul,

I'll worship Your holy name. Let's do that acapella. Bless the

Lord, O my soul, Worship His holy name.

Sing like never before, O my soul,

I'll worship Your holy name.

You may be seated. Well, good morning.

Welcome to Kootenai Church. I've just got a few announcements for you.

First of all, Jim's not here today. You notice right after he criticized my sermon last week, the

Lord took his voice. Just saying. He's fine.

I was texting with him this morning. He just he's lost his voice. He's got some sort of cold. Yes, just some sort of cold.

And so his voice is gone and he's got a little bit of a cough. So Cornell is going to be preaching this morning.

So that'll be a treat. Some announcements, though. He asked me to share the membership class.

We're planning for membership classes in October. So if you're interested in that, there's a there'll be a table back in the foyer to sign up the midweek

Bible study that Brian and Jeff are doing. That starts up September 1st. So you'll want to let them know if you're going to be part of that.

Then Adventure Club. I got a few announcements about Adventure Club. There's a registration table that will be open in the back.

So if you haven't registered yet, registered your kids for that, now's a good time to do that. It's open all the time.

You know, you can do it anytime. But the sooner you do, the better we're able to plan. This Friday there's a leaders meeting.

So if you're part of Adventure Club as a leader or a director, there's a meeting for you this

Friday. And then next Sunday. So kids, kids that are in Adventure Club and leaders, this coming

Sunday, not today because that's this Sunday, this Sunday that's not today. That's the next Sunday. Wear your shirts.

It's Adventure Club Sunday. So we're going to have some announcements about Adventure Club. Let's see.

Word of the day. The word of the day in the bulletin. I don't remember what it says in the bulletin. But you shouldn't either because it's wrong.

For obvious reasons, the word of the day has changed and the word of the day is shepherd. So kids, the word of the day is shepherd.

All right. That looks like the announcement. So turn in your Bibles to First Peter. Chapter four, though.

First Peter chapter four and we'll read verses 12 through 16. First Peter chapter four verses 12 through 16.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.

But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of his glory, you may rejoice with exultation.

If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or thief or evildoer or troublesome meddler. But if anyone suffers as a

Christian, he's not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. Please stand and we'll pray together.

Father, we are grateful for your word. We're grateful for men here in this church that are able to open it up to share it with us.

We pray for Jim. Pray that he gets back to us quickly and pray for Cornell as he's preaching today. We just pray that the word that he preaches would be the word that you would have preached, that you would speak through him, that we would hear what it is that you'd have us to hear.

And Lord, may we now sing to you out of our heart, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. We will trust

God's word alone Where his perfect will is known

Our traditions shift like sand While his truth forever stands

We will live by faith alone Clothed in merit,

God our own All we claim is Jesus Christ And his finished sacrifice

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Through the church that he redeemed And made his own

He has freed us, he will keep us Till we're safe, behold

Glory be, glory be to God alone

We are saved by grace alone

Undeserved yet freely shown No accomplishment on earth

Can achieve the second birth We will stand on Christ alone

The unyielding cornerstone Nations rage and devils roar

Still he reigns forevermore

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Through the church that he redeemed And made his own

He has freed us, he will keep us Till we're safe, behold

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Through the church that he redeemed And made his own

He has freed us, he will keep us Till we're safe, behold

Glory be, glory be to God alone

In Hebrews chapter 12, verses 2 and 3 it says,

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and praise

Turn your eyes to the hillside

Where justice and mercy embrace

There the Son of God gave his life

For us and our measureless dead was he raised

Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our prize

We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

Turn your eyes to the morning

And see Christ the Lion awake

What a glorious dawn Fear of death is gone

For we carry his life in our veins

Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our prize

We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

Turn your eyes to the heavens

Our King will return for his own

Every knee will bow, every tongue will shout

All glory to Jesus alone

Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our prize

We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, to you we lift our eyes

Jesus, our glory and our prize

We adore you, behold you, our

Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you

And you get a little bit of taste of it this morning, a little bit of a taste because those of you who came thinking

Jim was going to be preaching, it's going to be something like expecting tri -tip at a venue and getting a half -eaten

Big Mac. But what I do have is the

Word of God, and that is always a feast. And I would like to say one more thing before I get started.

Dave's sermons are awesome. When we were last together in March of this year, we finished chapter 2 of 1

Thessalonians, looking at verses 17 through 20. In that section, we continued to look at what the ministry of a genuine under -shepherd would look like, a genuine under -shepherd of Christ.

And it's good for under -shepherds to remember that word under, even though it's not got a hyphen and it's not attached.

The people, the men that God has chosen to put in positions of responsibility in His body are under -shepherds.

The great shepherd is who we look to. Back to my introduction. It depends on...

Someone asked this morning how long the message would be, and I told them it depends on how many rabbit trails I go down.

So at any rate, we began to look at the genuine ministry of an under -shepherd. Chapter 1, true to Paul's format, was something of an introduction as well as a statement of praise, a praise regarding this young church that had taken the gospel and had run with it, if you will.

They had quickly developed into a local example of a genuine church of God. They were convicted by the word, as we see in chapter 1, verse 5.

They became imitators of the Lord, and thus a huge blessing to the apostle, as well as a distinctive addition to the churches in this area that the apostle was establishing in this area.

And we will see that through verse... We see that in verses 6 through 10 of chapter 1. They were somewhat of a quick study, and for that reason, possibly,

Paul had more than a little concern that there were probably some whose roots didn't run deep, as it talks about in the parable of the sower.

Chapter 2 is a reminder to the Thessalonians of how Paul treated them. Coming from Philippi, where they had been mistreated, they still boldly spoke the truth of God to those in Thessalonica.

They treated them like a father, they treated them like a mother, they treated them like friends, and they gave them the truth, all of the truth, unadulterated truth.

They used no flattering speech, as Paul and his companions mentioned, Paul mentions in this testament, this epistle.

Nor did they look for glory. There's a good sign of a genuine under -shepherd of Christ. They are more than delighted and grateful to pass all the glory on to others and to Christ.

They were there for a short time, they were gentle, they labored hard. In the short time they were with the

Thessalonians, the heart of a loving under -shepherd shines through in this chapter, as Paul and his companions were truthful, gentle, fondly affectionate towards the believers there, and they developed deep relationships.

They got to know the people there, they knew them as people and as families, not just a church, a building.

They were devout and upright, they behaved blamelessly, Paul says in chapter 2.

They exhorted, encouraged, and implored the believers in Thessalonica as a father would their own children, as verse 11 of chapter 2 explains.

The Thessalonians received the word from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy as the word from God, and they believed it.

And that belief translated into the beginnings of a life of service.

They allowed the Holy Spirit into their lives to transform them, to take them from glory to glory, from grace to grace, as a believer will do.

They endured suffering, even at the hands of their own fellow countrymen, in verse 14.

And then sadly, Paul and his companions had to leave. Throughout Paul's message to the

Thessalonians, he continually made clear to them that the word he brought was in fact the true word of God, and they not only believed it, but they trusted

God's word and they grew as they were sanctified by God's word. He also reminded them directly of how he loved them and how he blamelessly and devoutly ministered to them.

In this, we see many of the characteristics that should typify a genuine, honored shepherd of the

Lord Jesus Christ. One of the biggest statements he makes is in chapter 2, verse 6, where he says,

Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority.

He did not seek the glory of men. He sought the glory of Christ. Today, this is one of the easier ways to identify the charlatan who uses scripture to enrich himself and seeks the glory of men.

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy never did this. They were only interested in advancing the Lord Jesus Christ in the world, and this was their food, it was their drink, it was their existence.

They had to be spreading the gospel. Woe unto me, Paul said, for if I preach not the gospel,

I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel, in 1

Corinthians 9, verse 16. Then Paul finishes up chapter 2, reminding the

Thessalonians that they had to be spirited away from Thessalonica for a short time. They wanted to come in the worst way, but Satan thwarted them, he says in verse 18.

This created a good, if you will, anxiety in Paul's heart, the kind of anxiety that a dedicated under -shepherd will feel, will experience when they cannot be with those whom they love and want to serve, those whom the

Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted to them. So chapter 3, that's a quick review.

And so as you who are regulars know, Jim is our main preacher, our main teaching elder, and he's up here

Sunday after Sunday expositing the word of God. We fill in, and so there's usually long stretches between the fill -ins, and so that's why we will tend to review stuff.

So chapter 3 starts with an unfortunate division of thought. If one were reading this as a book, without chapter headings or verse addresses, it would read something like this, starting with chapter 2, verse 17.

I'm going to just read it quickly, as it would have actually read in the original, before the chapter divisions were put in.

But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while in person, not in spirit, were all the more eager with great desire to see your face, for we wanted to come to you.

I, Paul, more than once, and yet Satan thwarted us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation?

Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy.

So when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions, as for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.

So you see how it's basically a long thought there, that starts there and culminates in the early parts of chapter 3.

And the divisions are convenient, so that I can say, would you turn to 1 Thessalonians 3, verse 1, and you know where to turn to.

If I was to say, would you turn to the Bible, and we're going to talk about the Thessalonian church, okay, it's probably in 1

Thessalonians, it could be in Acts. So, chapter divisions are handy, I'm not running them down, but in this particular case, it's a split that kind of indicates a change of thought when there isn't one.

Paul is continuing on, therefore, when we could endure it no longer, he says, so leaving aside chapter designations, recognize from 2 .17

to 3 .5, we have basically one semi -long painful and joyous description of Paul's heart to be with those in Thessalonica.

So chapter 3 begins with the decision by the companions to tend to the needs of Thessalonica by sending

Timothy. Paul has detailed some of Timothy's bona fides in verse 2, and later he speaks joyfully of the return of Timothy with the information he sent him for, about the flourishing church in Thessalonica that was indeed truly growing from grace to grace every day in the glory of the

Lord Jesus Christ through the word of God by the Holy Spirit. Chapter 3 continues with the statement about what causes an under -shepherd to be joyous and thankful.

He also, Paul also assures the Thessalonians that he prays for them, and he seeks their very best in Christ. So these first five verses have a wealth of information about the ways an under -shepherd can tend to the needs of the brethren.

Now, I titled this Comfort for Believers, and I don't want you to think it's a bait and switch, because we're going to be talking about affliction.

And how many of you are comforted by affliction? Man, if I could just be broke this week.

If the car would just break down again. If those people would come and try to burn the house down one more time.

We don't need to seek affliction. So, are you encouraged by that? You don't need to seek it. It's not something you have to chase.

The first five verses, I said, have a wealth. So here's three things that I will be referring to as we walk through these five verses.

What will an under -shepherd, a genuine under -shepherd, not do? They won't leave the believers alone, and I'm coining a word, unhelped.

They will not leave believers alone and unhelped. Number two, they won't minimize the fact that believers will be afflicted, verses three and four.

And they won't ignore the possibility of apostasy, in verse five. So there are a couple of things to know about this first section of chapter three.

First of all, in 1 Thessalonians chapter three, verse one, therefore when we could endure it no longer.

Paul uses what has been called the narrative we, or the epistolary we there. He is not talking about he,

Silvanus, and Timothy necessarily. It is most likely that he is using we because Paul was a humble man and he did not like calling, attracting attention to himself.

So he would use the word we as a narrative we to describe what he was doing in some cases.

Not every case, often it means we. But in this particular case, the construction indicates that he was talking about himself.

Second, we're told not to be anxious. So I want you to know that his anxiety was not an ungodly anxiety as some might surmise.

He had a deep abiding love for every church that he planted and that he ministered in. And it wasn't just the church at large.

It was the people in the church. He knew them. He knew their names. He knew their condition.

He knew what they were struggling with. He missed them. This little church had just gone through some fiery trials and he was concerned about satanic influence.

So it was a godly anxiety, might be the wrong term, a godly concern that they be built up and strengthened.

And he's going to talk about that in this section here. He was concerned that they might not know how to sustain one another.

They were brand -new Christians. Do you remember back to when you were a brand -new Christian? You knew everything, didn't you?

And then as time wore on, you began to realize that Paul was a pretty smart guy.

He knew more than I did. Jesus knew more. You began to learn and you began to bounce your ideas off of more mature believers.

And the body life that exists in a church grew you and some of your foolish ideas were put away and some of your ideas that you'd never thought of came to the fore and you grew and you became more useful, useful in the church, more useful to one another.

That's what Paul wants for this new church. They might not know how to sustain one another. We will see that these concerns were unfounded, but he didn't know that.

Paul was Paul. He put his toga on one leg at a time, just like we do. Do you wear a toga?

Well, I had to leave it in the interim. It had to be historical. Finally, in this section is a beautiful insight into the heart of a loving under -shepherd.

While he would want to mitigate the suffering of the believers he loved as much as possible,

Paul was a realist, and he knew that living in the world meant struggling in the world. A body of believers in a pagan world in the middle of the

Roman Empire was a prime target for affliction. This is true in every age, and Paul pulls no punches in bringing solace and teaching to his charges.

Now, no one who is really in their right mind wants to be the bearer of bad news.

Do you like bearing bad news to people? I get to ruin their day. No.

Yeah. Whatever that was prompted by, thank you. So we've developed methods over the centuries of delivering negativity.

I have good news, and I have bad news. Who has heard that heartwarming phrase?

It's like if we just throw in a puppy and a latte, we can mitigate the destruction and death. We don't want to bother people.

We don't want to scare them. As I was studying to prepare for this morning,

I was impressed with the fact that Paul was unafraid to deliver difficult news to even a brand -new church.

Did you notice that in this section? This is not the best marketing, folks. If you're going to sell a car, don't tell them what's wrong with it.

Actually, if you're a Christian, you ought to. And I'm going to develop this a little bit more, but I actually sold a pickup not a few years back, and I knew the transmission was going out.

And so I would tell prospective buyers, the transmission is going out. Okay, never mind.

But I subtracted the amount from the cost of the vehicle that I checked with a local transmission repair shop, how much will it cost to repair this transmission, and I subtracted that from the value.

And so finally I got a taker, and I actually put that in the bill of sale.

The buyer acknowledges that the transmission is, and I had is in capital letters in bold and underlined, is going out and attested that by their signature.

They were actually grateful. And later on, a year or two, I don't remember how long ago it was later,

I met them in a grocery store in the line, and I went, how's that pickup doing?

Oh, yeah, the transmission went out in about three months, but we got a new one in, and I love it. So if you can be apprised of difficult news, it can be a help to the believer.

And Paul knows that. He knows that apprising, giving people the information up front can be a blessing.

And then I got way off. See, that's why it's going to take longer for this message. So the fact is if you're going to tell something about, tell people about something that has the potential to absolutely change their lives for eternity, don't be afraid to give them the entire counsel of God, the whole truth.

As Paul said in Ephesians, this is a long section, but if you get nothing more out of this morning than the scripture, you will be blessed beyond measure.

In Acts chapter 20, verses 17 through 28, Paul said this when he was talking to the elders and the leaders of the church there.

From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you yourselves know from the first day

I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials, which came upon me through the plots of the

Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house.

I am solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the

Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that bonds and afflictions will await me.

So the Holy Spirit had no problem telling Paul that troubles await in you. And what did

Paul do? I'm not going to Jerusalem. No, he set his face like Flint and he went to Jerusalem. Back to the scripture.

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course in the ministry which

I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold,

I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of men for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

So the message this morning to us, at least as I was studying this, is that affliction is not something to be afraid of.

Affliction is not something to be fearful of. And we'll find out that it's actually part and parcel of Christianity.

Now I don't have some special message that is different from what is written in the pages of Holy Scripture. In fact, what

I have is from the pages of Holy Scripture which is what an undershepherd should do. But in the message there is beauty and there is pain and I will not shrink back from declaring the difficult things to you and, turning the page wrong, so in this little short section of Thessalonians beginning in chapter three,

Paul bears his soul. And maybe intentionally or unintentionally he bears his soul to the

Thessalonians about his love for them and his concern for the difficulties they would face. And so I would do that this morning as well.

Brothers and sisters, the gospel is the most beautiful message that has ever been proclaimed, ever. But it contains within it difficulty.

We must understand that trusting Christ has eternal blessings. But while here, while here, is it not attended with difficulty?

Somebody's got to nod their head at that. Have you got that life? Your best life now? No. It is attended with difficulty.

Paul made sure that his new brothers and sisters in the faith in Thessalonica understood this and we will see that as we look at this section.

So that's the introduction. Verse one, therefore, which refers back to his love for them in chapter two.

Therefore, when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone.

Here then is the epistolary we that Paul uses. And Paul uses very strong words here. The word for endure is the

Greek word stego which means to cover over or to hide by covering, to ward off by covering.

It later came to include the idea in the New Testament of to bear up against or to endure.

It only occurs in two other places in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 9 -12, if others share the right over you, do we not more?

Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

And then in 1 Corinthians 13 -7. So Paul uses it three times. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

It's the idea of strongly and steadfastly waiting for something, but he couldn't wait to hear from the believers in Thessalonica.

In both cases, in all cases, this word communicates steadfast endurance.

The apostle had to know what was going on in Thessalonica. He had to know. He loved his charges.

He loved his charges there, and he had poured himself into them for a short time, and he wanted to know how it went with them.

He could have used Timothy in Athens. He was going into one of the most godless cities in the Greek Empire, where it was full of pagan philosophers who had worked their, plied their trade, and sharpened it to a great, to a point.

They were good at what they, they were good at the false theology they propagated. That's where Paul was headed, and he elected to send

Timothy back to Thessalonica. He was less concerned for himself than he was for his people, his people, if you will, the church of Thessalonica.

This is the true heart of a dedicated under -shepherd. He will be more concerned for those that God has called him to serve than he will be about himself.

When he believed there was a need in Thessalonica for support and encouragement, he stripped himself of that support and encouragement and sent

Timothy back. The heart of a true under -shepherd will always seek to meet the needs of those they serve more than they will meet their own needs.

They will never leave believers alone and unhelped. There is a tendency today to talk about taking care of yourself, taking care of your personal needs.

The big talk is making sure you take care of yourself first. I'm not going to talk about any current events, just the philosophy itself.

Look to your own needs first. Take care of yourself first. That's the idea. That's not how

Paul operated, and it shouldn't be how a genuine servant of Christ operates. It's not that one shouldn't have a concern for their own needs.

It's just that it has become a nasal -gazing operation that precludes servanthood.

We cannot be servants if we are obsessed with ourselves, if we are obsessed with our needs, if we are obsessed with what is going on in our lives.

We need to look to the needs of others. We need to look to the hurts, the pains, the concerns of others.

This is what Paul did. Paul couldn't bear to think about those in Thessalonica struggling on their own, so he sent the best help he could, because he couldn't go.

And we sent Timothy, in verse 2, he says, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and to encourage you as to your faith.

So if those you love need help, and you can't go yourself, send the best you've got. Paul describes

Timothy here with superlatives intentionally to give him better stature in the eyes of the Thessalonians, to know that he was sending genuine help to them.

He called him God's fellow worker. That's a remarkable statement.

Think about that. Not Paul's fellow worker, not Paul and Silvanus's, not the apostles' fellow worker,

God's fellow worker. That's a wonderful title.

A wonderful title. That's what he called him. It's an incredible appellation, and his work wasn't in just anything, it was in the gospel of Christ.

He gives this praise to Timothy in the book of Philippians. Remember this praise? In Philippians chapter 220,

Paul said this, for I have no one else of kindred spirit or like -minded who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.

Paul knew that if he couldn't go, if he could send Timothy, it would be almost as if he were going, because Timothy was such a servant and had developed to such a potential of being everything

Paul could have been himself. And his intention was that Timothy, oh, do you work for someone, by the way?

This thought just occurred to me. Here's another rabbit trail. They should be able to say that about you.

I sent so -and -so, because they will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.

We ought to be that kind of servant in whatever area we are engaged. And his intention was that Timothy would strengthen and encourage their faith.

The purpose was twofold. The word strengthen comes the idea of giving someone staying power, whether it means holding them up or feeding them or biblical encouragement.

This would be needed for new converts who had to face genuine persecution, sometimes for the first time. Their life was sailing along just like a normal Greek peasant life was at that time.

And then they trusted Christ. Now, all of a sudden, people don't like them, really badly don't like them.

Some of them want to kill them. This would be needed for new converts who had to face genuine persecution.

Paul had a close relationship with Timothy and he knew him well. He knew that he could trust him to take the proper biblical support to the converts in Thessalonica.

This is another example of an under -shepherd refusing to leave those they care for unhelped. And the strengthening wasn't for their emotional or mental well -being.

It was for their faith. It was for their faith. Their trust in Christ needed to be firmed up, not with spurious demonstrations of pseudo -power, but with the sure word of God, for this was the tool, this is what gave strength to Paul and his companions, the gospel of Christ.

This is what they took back to Thessalonica. They didn't take shows of power or demonstrations or anything else.

They took back with them the very word of God that they used to plant that church. The strengthening here is a reminder to all of us, by the way, that it's not just enough to have a remarkable conversion.

We've all seen remarkable conversions. They're on television. They're in the news. They're on Facebook.

They're on Twitter. I can't remember the name. The truth of the matter is demonstrated when one stays the course.

Paul knew that there would be temptation in Thessalonica to run from the afflictions that were coming. Sometimes people mistake affliction for God's disfavor.

More often than not, in the lives of faithful Christians, it's just the rotten world and all that goes along with it and the fall that is mitigating against their walk with Christ.

Don't misunderstand the difficulties in your life as some strange thing. Timothy would bring this truth to the

Thessalonians as well. Peter put it this way. Dave read this before the message.

He put it this way in his epistle. He said, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you, but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on muttering, complaining, keep on rejoicing, rejoicing, so that you also at the revelation of His glory, so that you may rejoice with exultation.

If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer or a thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler, but if anyone suffers as a

Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. So these would have been some of the strengthening things that Timothy would have taken back to the

Thessalonians who were being persecuted. Glory in God, glory in these persecutions.

Don't seek them, but when they come, glory in them. As you are properly interpreting and living out the word of God in your life, glory in those persecutions.

One of the more important things to remember here though is that Paul understood the need for a minister to actually be present with the new converts or with old converts.

We all need someone else standing next to us during the difficult trials in life, don't we?

Is it comforting to you when you have someone who's willing to come spend their time and be with you when you're going through difficult times?

They don't have to say anything sometimes. Sometimes people like me, it's better if I don't say anything. Just be there.

Just put your arm around them and God will give opportunity for the strengthening that needs to come.

Further, a true under -shepherd would not seek to tell those he loves to avoid every possibility of affliction, for he knows that difficulties and pain must come to those who trust

Christ. And so in the next verse, Paul himself confirms that. So that, he says in chapter 3, verse 3, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions.

For you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. I don't know how many times

I've read Thessalonians and I didn't ever really catch this. We're destined for things.

There are some gear in there, some rock solid guarantees in the Christian life. And you know what's right at the top of the list?

Persecution. Hey, do I see any? No arms are going up. A true under -shepherd will never minimize the fact that believers will be afflicted in this world.

The word disturbed here comes from a Greek word and it's lovely these metaphors that the

Greek language has. We have our own. I mean, rule of thumb, you know where that comes from and little metaphors we have and stuff like that.

But this word, this word disturbed comes from a Greek word which has its idea of the wagging of a dog's tail.

And it implies being fond over and cajoled. Dog lovers will understand this. Can you resist your dog's wagging tail, you dog lovers out there?

No, you can't. You reprobates. Or the purring of a cat on your leg.

This is what it's talking about is people who will cajole you. You know, if you just give in a little here.

You don't need to be going through this. Just comp, they won't use the word compromise but that's what they're saying.

Just compromise a little and it won't be so rough for you. This dog is wagging its tail.

Sometimes when afflictions come to Christians, there are those who urge us just the least little bit of compromise in order to stop the affliction.

Are you suffering because you're a murderer or a troublesome person or a thief or a liar? Stop that.

But if you're suffering because you've been obedient to the word of God, you need to ignore that kind of advice when it tells you to compromise.

In this particular case, this might have very well been the Jews urging the Thessalonians to give up Christianity and to adopt

Judaism so the affliction would stop. There will be those who come into our lives who will urge us just to give in a little bit and not take such a hard line.

If you just go along with the flow a little bit, you know it won't be so bad. The simple fact is God strengthens us by His Holy Spirit to be obedient to His word.

The fact is He often uses other to strengthen us as Paul did with Timothy for the

Thessalonians. But Paul's statement here was not only that they should not be disturbed but they should recognize that they were destined for affliction.

So you were destined for affliction when you became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. The idea behind the word is that our dedication actually causes us to lie in the way of affliction.

It's like, there's a car coming and you lay down in front of it. I'm not telling you to do that. I'm trying to give you a picture of what it's talking about.

It's to lie in the way of affliction. It's the same word for set in Matthew chapter 5, 14.

We are a city set on a hill. You're placed there. You're put there. You're put on that hill.

It's the same word in Philippians 1, 6 that Paul uses as one appointed for the defense of the gospel.

You have been appointed for the defense of the gospel. You've been set in the way to defend the gospel. It implies immovability.

Immovability. Now, that does not mean, like I said, that we should glory in difficulty. It doesn't mean we have to look for it either.

It will come to us. If we are faithful to Christ, the world will be faithful to hate us. And make no mistake, they will do that.

Let us make sure that the hatred the world has for us, though, is hatred of the gospel and not of our own wickedness.

One of the most important truths that a believer can understand is that the life of a Christian is not and will not, most likely not be, a life of soft, fluffy kindness from everyone.

The world hated Christ and it killed him. We should expect it to hate us.

If, in fact, we are consistently loved by the world, it should be a red flag to us that not all is well with our faith.

Scripture warns that those who remain faithful to Christ will be hated by those who pretend to be faithful to Christ.

Jesus' words in Matthew, the gospel of Matthew, teach this very thing. Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.

At that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John that the world must hate you because it hated him.

In fact, when the world hates you, persecutes you, and kills you, they actually think they're doing service to God.

Boy, isn't this a comforting message. I'm not done. It's Friday, but Sundays are coming.

They will make you outcast from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

These things they will do because they have not known the Father or me. Timothy had to make sure that the Thessalonians understood this.

Their trials were not an anomaly, but as a matter of fact, they were a good indication that their lives were in fact lives of dedication and service to the

Lord. We can't make this the only litmus test, of course. Don't do that. Scripture and Scripture alone is what we use to evaluate our lives of service to the

Lord Jesus Christ. But as one is properly interpreting and applying Scripture, when the difficulties come, you can be sure it is because you are adhering to the

Word of God. One note about translating this verse. Some people believe that the word we is again the epistolary and refers to Paul only, but the most natural reading of this is that it applies to both.

Both Paul and to the Thessalonians. Remember that Paul later reminded Timothy, the very person he sent to Thessalonica, that if he desired to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, he and anyone else who chose to do that would be persecuted in 2

Timothy. Verse 4, For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, and so it came to pass as you know.

Again, we have a situation where the we could be referring to Paul alone or to Paul and the Thessalonians. Likely here again, it most naturally refers to both.

He wanted to make sure that they understood, they really understood that affliction was coming and would come. Paul knew that making the

Thessalonians aware of persecution ahead of time would have the effect of strengthening their faith. Giving someone a heads up about difficulties to come is a blessing to them.

It allows them to be as prepared as they can be. Now, we can't anticipate every eventuality, but we can be students of the word of God and we can see how

His messengers and His children are treated and know that the potential for that exists in our lives. Then we won't be surprised at the fiery ordeal.

We will be more prepared to resist Him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

I stole that from your book too, Dave, 1 Peter. You just picked a great book to preach through.

What can I say? We will recognize it, the difficulties that come, as a good fight.

And we will be more likely to finish the course, keeping the faith. In fact, when Paul and Barnabas wanted to strengthen the believers in Southern Galatia, one of the things they told them was that it will be through many tribulations that one enters the kingdom of God.

Strengthening the souls in Acts 14 .22, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

This is not to say that the difficulties of Christianity should be the only message, as it sounds like it is this morning.

But a true under shepherd will not mislead believers by ignoring the fact that tribulation is part and parcel of genuine

Christianity. Wolves and shepherds will not share this information. They want your praise, they want your money, so they're only going to tell you about the health, the wealth, the fairy dust, the golden feathers and the unicorn breath.

For this reason, finishing up, Timothy, Paul says this to the

Thessalonians, for this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

Repeating what he said in chapter 3, verse 1, Paul shows his protectiveness and his desire to see the

Thessalonians grow. He did not want the work that had been done in Thessalonica to be damaged by Satan. As a true under shepherd will,

Paul did not ignore the possibility of apostasy, but as his manner was, he most certainly prayed for the

Thessalonians and he included this reason for sending Timothy back. He wanted to know how the seed he had planted had fared.

Did they receive it with joy but have no root so that when persecution came, it caused them to fall away?

Were they weakened by the affliction that came or had they stayed true to Christ? Paul wanted to know if the joy that was evident on their faces in their lives at the beginning when he shared the gospel with them was real.

Now, here's a delightful piece. The construction of the Greek here indicates that Paul trusted the

Holy Spirit to be working in Thessalonica. It changes from, and I hate to get so technical, but as you're reading this, in verse five, he says, for this reason, when

I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out your faith, about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted.

That's in the indicative. You made a statement. I was worried that the tempter might tempt you, but he says it's not a possibility by changing the case.

He says, and our labor should be in vain. He knew that the tempter would tempt them, but he didn't believe their labor would be in vain.

He was a shepherd, an under shepherd, that trusted the Holy Spirit, trusted the word of God.

Well, what this actually means is that his statement for fear that the tempter might have tempted you was a statement of fact, and our labor would be in vain was hypothetical.

As one commentator put it this way, he said, Paul thinks it probable that Satan has applied pressure to his converts, but improbable that they have given way.

Why? Because of the Holy Spirit. Because of the word of God.

What did he sow into their lives? What is sown into our lives? The word of God.

And the word of God does not return vain. Further, he knew he could trust Timothy to bring back an accurate report, and we will see the next time we're together that Timothy did bring back a great report.

And so, even though it sounds like I'm ending on bad news, I'm not. The fact is,

Timothy is going to come back from Thessalonica, and he's going to report to Paul that not only did the words fall on fertile ground, but they are now examples to other churches.

Why? Because they lived the word of God out in their lives. So Paul had a great desire to minister to the

Thessalonians, but he could not go. So he sent his best. He sent Timothy. As a faithful under -shepherd sent by Christ to plant the churches, he would never leave believers alone and unhelped.

Further, he would never minimize the fact that commitment to Christ will result in affliction, and he cautioned and warned the

Thessalonians about that. And finally, he would not ignore the possibility of apostasy, but his great desire was that the

Thessalonians would prove true to the gospel. Under -shepherds do not want their work to be in vain. And so, as Paul has done here with the

Thessalonians, they must pour themselves into the flock that God has entrusted to them. They cannot leave them alone, unhelped, and bereft of teaching.

They must be sure to tell the truth about life so that those who come know that they are destined for difficulties and not shocked by the afflictions that come.

They should never ignore the possibility of apostasy, but always trust

Christ to finish the work that He started in the lives of those who have put their trust in Him. So in closing, although it may seem

I focused too much on the negative this morning, it is negative, it is a negative that we need to know so we can be prepared.

As we face the difficulties that may be coming in these days, we must remember that Philippians 1 .6 is a promise, and that Romans 8 .28

is not a cliche. And frankly, there's no better way to end a message than to end it with Scripture.

And so I close with this, Philippians 1 .6, for I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it in the day of Christ.

And Romans 8 .28 -30, and the Thessalonians needed to hear this. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love

God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.

And these whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom

He justified, He also glorified. Let's pray. Father, the world is bent on undoing what has been done by You.

But we know that You are a conqueror, and You have made us more than conquerors. Let us always turn to the

Word, turn to Christ when difficulties come. For we are destined for difficulty, but we also are destined for glory.

And we look to You to make that happen day by day in our lives so that we might honor

You, bring glory to You, show the world that the Lord Jesus Christ is worthy. He is the

Lamb who was slain for those who will believe, and He is worthy of all praise. Might we be about that business today in our lives.

In Jesus' name we pray. Would you please stand?

piano plays Take my life and let it be

Consecrated for to Thee Take my moments and my days

Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my voice and let me sing

Always, only for my King Take my lips and let them be

Filled with messages from Thee Filled with messages from Thee Take my silver and my gold

Not of mine but I will Take my intellect and use

Every power as You shall choose Every power as You shall choose

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. You are dismissed.

piano plays It's good what ways it's my soul to say

I'm hidden forever in the sin

I'd love I'd love to tell a story Such a story

Redeeming love has been done here And we'll be never separate

Another sign is forever

Not death, not life Never separate

Another sign is forever

Sing it again. Another sign is forever

Another sign is forever By the throne

I have a strong and perfect plea A great high priest whose name is love

Whoever lives and pleads for me My name is grave on his hands

My name is written on his heart I know that while in heaven he stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within And see him there end to all my sin

Because my sinful soul is counted free

For God the judge To look on him and pardon me