MOVING TO MY NEW HOUSE
1 Thessalonians 5:1–28
SIGNS PRIOR TO CHRIST
RETURN
V:1. Now, brothers, about
times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that
the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are
saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly,
as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
A. Paul is following his
discussion of the second coming of the Lord
In chapter
4.
1. Jesus will come again and take the entire
body of believers, the
dead in Christ first and than all who
are alive to be with Him for
an eternity in heaven.
2. Following that will be a seven year
tribulation period during which
Satan will deceive the world
a.
There will be three and half years of peace in which Satan will
establish himself as the world
leader, the antichrist, commanding
worship of him alone.
b. The
next three and a half years Christ will be a war with Satan where
there will be wide spread destruction over
the entire world.
Daniel 9:25-27 and Revelations 12:6-9
B. From time to time some
religious organizations will claim an
exact date of the end getting prepared to
exit the world.
only to find out they were wrong as the day
passes.
1. This group is prepared for the end of the
world, they got
the date wrong.
2. According to the text no one knows when
Christ will return
because He will come as a thief in the night.
3. There is a second group who will not be concerned
about the second
coming
of Christ.
4. When
Christ returns, unbelievers will see peace in the world.
5. According to the text while some see
peace, the signs of Christ’s
impending
return will be in plain sight.
6. In Mark
13 Christ gave us the signs
Mark 13:8
Nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. There will
be earthquakes in various places, and
famines. These are the beginning of
birth pains.
7. It is my belief that we
have all those signs today.
8. We must remember to God a
day is as a thousand years.
OUR POSITION IN CHRIST,
DAY PEOPLE
V:4. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that
this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and
sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then,
let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and
self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get
drunk, get drunk at night.
A. Paul describes two types
of people; brothers and sisters in Christ and
brothers and sister in darkness.
1. There are believers and non believers.
2. There are those we live in the light of
Jesus Christ.
3. There are those who are totally
influenced by Satan, and
live in darkness.
4. There are those who know the truth.
5. There are those who live by the lies of
Satan.
B. All believers are sons of
the light.
1. Since we know Christ can return at
anytime, we should be
ready to meet Him in the sky.
2. We should be in a state of readiness for
Christ return.
a. Be alert, on the look out for
Christ’s return.
b. Be self controlled, live a life of
righteousness
c. Get rid of every hindrance that draws
you away from the
light.
LIVING IN THE LIGHT
V:8. But since we belong to the day, let us be
self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of
salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to
receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that,
whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore
encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
A. Self controlled is the wiliness
to be obedient to the Word.
1. Put on the full armor of Christ. Ephesians 6:11-18
2. Our armor is not physical, but
spiritual.
a. Faith and love as a breastplate
The Roman breastplate covered a soldier
from his neck to his waist and
protected most of his vital organs (cf.
Eph
Christians' faith and love does that to
our heart.
Faith
in God protects inwardly and love for people protects outwardly.
These two graces cannot be separated; if
one believes in God he will also
love other people (cf. 1 Thess 1:3;
3:5). These attitudes equips
Christians to stand ready for the
Rapture.
b. Hope of salvation as a helmet
Hope is the confident expectation of
God fulfilling His
promises.
The hope of salvation guards our heads
from attacks on our
thoughts.
The salvation we look forward to is
deliverance from the wrath to
come, when the Lord returns.
(from Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament
Copyright © 1983,
2000 )
GODLY BEHAVIOR
V:12. Now we ask you,
brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the
Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because
of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers,
warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind
to each other and to everyone else.
A. God gave us pastors, men
after His own heart.
1. We are commanded to respect our pastors.
2. We are commanded to hold our pastor is
highest regard.
3. We are commanded to be in love with our
pastors because
of their work.
4. These are not options, they are commands
from God.
B. We are commanded to live in
peace with everyone.
1. We are to summit ourselves to the admonishment
of the pastor.
2. Admonish means to reprove gently or
warn.
3. One of the jobs of the pastor is to push
us into the same mind
as Christ.
RESPONSIBILITY TO EACH
OTHER
C. Paul highlights our
responsibility to each other.
1.
We have an attitude of not getting in anyone’s business.
2. We also have the attitude of not
wanting anyone in our
business. In fact, Paul tells us to
mind our own business.
( 1 Thessalonians 4:11)
Our business is the growth and
development of every Christian.
3.
In love, we are to be counselors to each other.
. The word idle means unruly or
disorderly.
a.
Those who neglect their duties, should be stirred to action.
b. God never told anyone to sit down and He
would bring
them a plate.
Jesus prepares a table before
us. But we have to do the work
to get to the plate.
c. All
of us have been given gifts and talents to serve.
4. We
are to encourage the weak.
a. Through the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, we are to
come along side the weak with
support.
5. We
are to work on our attitude of patience.
a.
Everyone of us are unique and grow at
different rates.
b. We have to learn to be tolerant of
others as we
promote their spiritual growth.
6.
Leave vengeance to the Lord, not paying eye for an eye.
a. Be the bigger person showing
kindness to everyone.
PURSUE HABITUAL GODLINESS
V:16. Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not put out the
Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold
on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
A. Be joyful always.
1. My Dad had a saying that sticks with me:
“ Everyday is a
There is a way to make the best out of
each day.
2. Being joyful is not the absent of
sadness or problems. It is being able
to see the good in your circumstances.
B. Pray continually.
1. Prayer is our direct line of
communication with God.
2. Prayer gives us access to God’s power.
3. The prayers of a righteous man avails
much.
4. God knows your situation but He requires
you to trust Him.
C. Be thankful and grateful for all situations
1. If you start your day off being
thankful, you will see the good
in your situation.
2. God promises to make circumstances turn
out for your good.
3. It is God’s will that we go through the
circumstance of life.
D. Do not put out the Holy Spirit fire in you.
1. It is the Holy Spirit that warms the
hearts, enlightens our minds
and powers the righteous behavior in
our lives.
2. It is the Holy Spirit that guides and
directs right decisions.
3. It is the Holy Spirit guides our
understanding of God’s Word.
4. It is the Holy Spirit that comforts us
in troubled times.
5. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts us
of our sins.
6. It is the Holy Spirit that bring God’s
Word to our
remembrance for daily use.
7. The Holy Spirit indwells us and is the
God in us.
8. There is a difference between the
indwelling of the spirit
and being filled with Spirit.
a. The indwelling of the Spirit takes
place the moment you
accept Christ as your personal
Savior.
b. The filling of the Holy Spirit is
being submissive to the
direction of the Spirit on a daily basis.
9. Without the Holy Spirit, there is no power
to do God’s work.
DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TO
EACH OTHER
23 May God himself, the God
of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and
body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who
calls you is faithful and he will do it.
A. We must see God as the
author of peace.
1. He is not the God of confusion.
2. He is not the God of distress.
3. He is not the God of sadness
4. He is not God of your hurts.
5. He is the GOD OF PEACE
B. God wants the very best
for us.
1. He wants us sanctified through and
through.
That pushes out all sin
That clothes us with love
2. Watch this, three parts to us, we got a
spirit, soul and a body
a. The spirit is our connection with
God.
b. The soul is the seat of all our emotions.
c. The body is the temple of the spirit and
the soul.
d. When we don’t respect our bodies, we are
destroying
the
temple.
C. When Jesus shows up the
Father wants us blameless.
1. The only way to be blameless is to
submit yourself to the
Holy Spirit and let Him order your
steps.
2. You been called by God to be in the body
of Christ.
a. You didn’t choose Him, He chose you.
b. God chose you for this pandemic.
3. Jesus is faithful and will do it.
a. Do what?
b. At His second coming, Jesus will step
out on a cloud
and change you in an instant to
immortality to be with
with Him though out eternity.
OUR DAILY OBLIGATIONS
V:25. Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the
brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter
read to all the brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you.
A. We are commanded to pray
for our pastor.
1. It is so important that God repeats it
over and over.
2. The devil is ready to do battle with our
pastor.
3. The adversary don’t like the idea of our
pastor lifting
up Jesus.
4. We got to be there with our pastor
supporting his lifted hands.
B. We are commanded to greet each other with a
holy kiss.
The holy kiss denotes affection with
kindness and love.
1. We do that when we meet on zoom.
2. What about the members that don’t show
up on zoom?
a. Have we reached out to them?
b. It our responsibility. It is in the
text.
C. It is up to us to share
the Word taught with other members not
in our classes. It is in the text.
1. We must pray God’s favor on the Church
body.
2. Joy, peace and prosperity is a good
prayer, in Jesus name.
IN SUMMARY; GETTING READY FOR HEAVEN
KNOW THE SIGNS OF CHRIST
RETURN
KNOW YOUR POSITION IN
CHRIST; DAY PEOPLE
LIVE IN THE LIGHT
PURSUE GODLY BEHAVIOR
ENCOURAGE BROTHERS AND
SISTERS
Rev. M. Mitchell
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