Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM- 1Thess. 5:1-1, Pastor Ryan

I'm about to play baton with this cane, oh mercy. Good morning, welcome to Calvary Chapel this morning. Would you all stand? We want to welcome all of you who have joined us online. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we just thank you for this opportunity on another Sunday morning to come and worship you in song and to study your word. Father, would you by your Holy Spirit move

on us this morning? Fill us afresh this morning, Lord. May we be yielded to you. May we rest in you this morning. May we worship you this morning, and we give you praise, and we thank you.

The treasures of faith are never now satisfied. Because we love you, because you first loved us. You're a good, good father who sent his son to the fences of sin, righteousness, judgment. And your good, good father is best for us. So, Lord Jesus, continue to bless our time as we worship you. Lord, we thank you for how good you are to us. Yes, Lord Jesus. Well, God, we know

we are not deserving of it, but we thank you that you give it so freely. The foundations of the world, it was planned that Jesus would die. The foundations of the world, it was settled, that the Holy Spirit would seal us and lead and guide us, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that you're on all paths. And so, Lord, as we continue in having some fellowship, and Pastor

Ryan comes up and teaches, Lord, would you give us open ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to perceive that which you have this morning, that we could grow in you, in your grace, Lord.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat, grab your bulletin, and we'll get ready to announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Some things to take note of. Over on the left-hand side, as always, the things going on throughout the week. In the middle sections, a few things to take note of. First of all, a reminder that we have

one more time of intercessory prayer before the election. So, join us tonight at six o'clock down at the other end of the hallway to pray for our nation and the other things going on in the community and the world. But just to pray for you. For our nation through this time. A reminder that women's breakfast is next Saturday, November the 9th. Or I guess it'll be this coming Saturday, November the 9th. So, ladies come

out for a fellowship breakfast at Steamy Joe's at eight o'clock a.m. And then also, we are going to do another showing of the 1916 Project. We had several people say, hey, we weren't able to make it. Could you show it again? And then there's some of us that needed a flow chart to keep up with all of these things. So, we're going to show a little bit of what we're going to be showing, a little bit of

what we have been talking about. And we wouldn't mind watching it one more time. So, next Sunday, November the 10th at 6 30 in the evening, we're going to show that again. So, if you weren't able to make it to the first one or you would like to watch it again, we will not be providing childcare that night. But anybody is welcome to come come and watch that. So, and then Agape fruits. Remember,

starts up this next week. If you have signed up to help out with that, there is going to be a meeting for those that are helping out with Agape Fruits. And then just a reminder that Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are due November the 17th. And with that in mind, I would also like to invite the Palmers to come up and share about the packing party this afternoon.

Good morning. So we just wanted to come up and do one last announcement about our Operation Christmas Child packing party that is going to be today from 2 to 5 at our place of residence, which is just west of Arc City, northwest of Arc City, so not too far. Just to give a brief reason why we feel so passionate about this is there's so many different mission opportunities where you have to find child care, and then you go by yourself or with your significant other to do something impactful for the kingdom. Well, this is something that you can do as a family, even with smaller kids.

We've been doing Operation Christmas Child a long time, and it's one ministry that I adore for the fact that it is purely about the gospel. It's not just about taking care of people's needs, but it's taking care of people's spiritual needs. And today at our packing party, we are going to do some crafts. We're going to be writing letters to put in our shoeboxes.

And we have all of the supplies. We have all of the supplies that are needed to pack a shoebox. So all you have to do is show up and pack a box for yourself, for your family. This is geared towards families with smaller children, but if you are just an adult with no children or an adult with an older child, please come pack a shoebox. We have plenty of supplies.

And if you want to stick around for a little bit after you pack your shoebox, we have plenty of... different stations that we could definitely use some adult help at. And one last thing, I just want to give a big thank you to you all who have already given so much support through buying stuff from Amazon, off of our Amazon wish list, and had shipped for this packing party, and then also so many of you donated towards Operation Christmas Child to pay for shipping, that all of the boxes that we plan to pack today, that we plan to pack today, the shipping has already been paid for. So that's a big thanks to you guys.

Yeah, thank you very much. What did you have to say? Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully we'll see you guys from 2 to 5 today at the Palmer residence. Thanks. Okay, and then, so you may have noticed when you walked in that there's a table set up for Family Life Services, and since we showed the 1916 project, and we're about to again, we want to talk about our own crisis management.

But we also want to talk about what's happening at the Pregnancy Center that is located here in Arc City, one of the ministries that we support. So if I can invite Melinda and Christa, they're going to come up and share with us a little bit about Family Life Services. I read this thing online the other day, and it was supposed to be a slam on those that are pro-life. But it said, if you are pro-life, but don't want to support mothers after the child is born, you're not pro-life, you're pro-birth.

Do with that what you will. But I want to have them share. So my name is Christa Wood. If you don't know me, I just recently took over as the Executive Director at Family Life Services. We've been here in town for 40 years now, and what we do is if somebody is in a vulnerable pregnancy position, we just come alongside them, let them know their options and their resources,

and let them know that there is value in that life that they carry. But that's not all. We support them hanging after we convince them to save a life. We also support them through their entire pregnancy and six months after that birth. And we have education classes to help prepare them for having a baby, for labor, and for all of that stuff. And so that's what we do.

And we also do parenting and anger management. Melinda talked about our programs here in just a minute, so I'm not going to touch on that too much. I would encourage you to stop by our table out there. We have contact cards. What we have discovered is we have no contact information, and we don't have a mailing address list. So we'd love to build up our email database if you'll stop by and fill out a card.

We're also always open to volunteers. If you ever want to get involved, even if it's an hour a month or every couple of months, we'd love to have you stop and talk to us after church. Hi, my name is Melinda Evans, and I currently do the Healthy Beginnings Pregnancy Education, the Parenting Education, and Anger Management. And they all kind of go together really well.

And so we just walk alongside them when they come in, and we get a lot of single moms that are in relationships, may not be married. And we just give them the education but also try to make sure they have everything they need so when a baby does come that they have, one, emotional support, material goods. And we're on this step of supporting them. We're on this step of spiritual support.

So we pray with them. We come alongside them. But we've also started Embrace Grace, which is a 12-week Bible study for single pregnant moms. One of the other local churches will be kind of like the centerpiece for that. But if there's ways you want to get involved, please do, because it's really a community Bible study that we want to come alongside these single moms

because there's two things that have greeted me. And one of the things that really breathed my heart just on Thursday, we had a couple who comes in for the pregnancy and the dad. And I start talking to the dad about his importance of being in the home, just in the home. And I started crying. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, why am I crying? And it took me back to how important dads are in the home raising, being a part of raising the children.

And I just looked at him and said, you need to come alongside mom and just be there. As silly as it may sound, she's taking the kids a bath. She gets them out. You be a part of it. It's huge. It makes an impact. My girls have been impacted by their dad, who was a big part of that. And then we had a single mom who felt equipped for the pregnancy, but now the baby is a year and a half, almost two,

and she feels like, I need more. I don't know what to do. I thought I was prepared, but, oh, my goodness. So we ended up becoming a lifeline. And we'd love to see you guys be a part of it some way, somehow. And I'm going to challenge you with prayer, first and foremost. There's two good quotes that I really like. Change doesn't come out without prayer. The second one is there's no new way of doing things.

Prayer is the only way things change. And I love this. It's Corrie ten Boom. Never be afraid of the unknown future. Pray to a known God. And that is where our heart's at. We don't know what the future is going to be for family life services, but we know we're excited for it because we know who God is. And so if you guys can be in prayer, first and foremost, because God wants to do and meet the needs and be a lifeline to these girls that are walking.

And these young men. Oh, my gosh. I could stand here forever telling you how much these men in this community need godly men. So thank you. Thank you, ladies. So make sure that you stop by the table and visit with them after this. It's a great ministry that they've got going there. So, all right. Those are the things that are going on. If you'd make sure that your mobile device is silenced.

And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 3. Psalm 3. Looking at the New American Standard for this part. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 3, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word. I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Alan in the even verses.

and the even verses. Psalm 3, a psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. O Lord, how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him in God. Selah. But you, Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the one who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice, and he answered me from his holy mountain. Selah. I lay down and slept. I awoke,

for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek. You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people. Selah. And Father, we do praise you for being the shield about us. And Lord, as we come into what could potentially

be a volatile week in our nation, we trust in you and we rest in you and know that you are truly our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. And so, Lord, be with us as we spend time in your word this morning. May we learn from you. May we grow in you. And may your Holy Spirit minister to our hearts exactly what you see fit. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

And if you would open up in your heart, if you would open up in your heart, open your Bibles to the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. The end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5 carry with it lessons on what things will be like in the end. And last week we looked at the rapture. And so our title for last week was Living in

Expectation. Because there is this idea, this doctrine, it's called the Doctrine of Eminence. And it's the idea that Jesus could come back at any point in time. And we believe that he will come back for his church and take them home. And then we'll enter a time known as the Great Tribulation. We're going to talk about that this morning, just a little bit, about the day of the

Lord. And so if with the rapture we should be living with expectation, knowing what's coming should cause us to live in preparation, to be prepared for what's coming. And so the title of this morning's message is Living in Preparation. And so we pick up in chapter 5 verse 1, and this is what it says. To the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you

yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light, and sons of day. We are not of the night, nor of the darkness. So then, let us not sleep as others

do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for the sake of the Lord. And so we pick up in chapter 5 verse 1, and we pick up in

chapter 5 verse 1, and we pick up in chapter 5 verse 1. And so we pick up in chapter 5 verse 1. For obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are also doing. Again, three things he's going to tell us here. He's

going to tell us about the day of the Lord. He's going to tell us about who you are and what you should be doing. So he tells us first of all about this day of the Lord. And so he starts off by saying, Those are two different words, but they carry with it a very similar idea. The word times speaks of a general length of time, the times that we live in. And the other one is the word epochs or seasons,

which speaks of a particular time. And so as to the times and to the particular sets of time, I have no need of anything to be written to you. I have no need of anything to be written to you. I have no need that I should write to you. Why does he say that? Well, because in the short amount of time that Paul had spent with the Thessalonian believers, he had spent time talking

to them about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the day of the Lord. He had spent time sharing with them that Jesus was coming again, that there was a time of judgment coming upon the earth that they needed to be ready for, that the believers would not have to go through because they would be raptured, but that the rest of the world would have to go through because it would be a time of the pouring out of the wrath of God. And so Paul spent time sharing that with them. And it's important that we understand the times and the seasons. As a matter of fact, one of Jesus's really big, if you will, complaints about

the religious leaders of his day is that they knew how to discern the signs of the weather, but they did not know how to discern the signs of the times. In Jesus's day, they were not able to discern the signs of the times of the coming of Jesus. And in our day, many are not able to discern the signs of the time of the second coming of Jesus because we are watching the signs take place all around us. We could do an entire study right now and go back to Matthew if we wanted to and have Jesus tell us once again about the things that we need to be prepared for, the intense labor pains that will continue to grow as we see strange weather take place all around us, as we see earthquakes happening all around us, as we see wars and rumors

of wars, as we see all of these things take place, we are realizing that the time is drawing near. He says, but I don't need to tell you about all that because you know about all that. For you know, he goes on to say, that the day of the Lord will come upon you, or that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Now, I hope you're asking yourself one question right now because it's called good Bible study to do this. Ask yourself a question. If we know that

the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, what is the day of the Lord? Well, let's say what the day of the Lord is not. The day of the Lord here is not speaking about one 24-hour time period. It doesn't say the evening and the morning. It doesn't represent a 24-hour time period. This instead represents a set of time, a period of time that takes up more than one day, but this set of

time or this period of time known as the day of the Lord always speaks of God's judgment. As a matter of fact, if we were to go back into the Old Testament, specifically into the book of Isaiah, and those of you that are doing the Bible reading plan, I'm a little behind. I just finished Isaiah. Those of you that are in the Bible reading plan, you know that as you read through Isaiah, you probably saw the phrase day of the Lord come up quite a few times in the reading of Isaiah. When

we get into the book of Joel, the day of the Lord will come up. When we get into the book of Zechariah, the day of the Lord will come up, and it always speaks of a time of God's judgment when God will unleash wrath upon the earth. That day of the Lord, that is referenced so much in the Old Testament, will begin, I believe, according to my study of scripture, it will begin with the rapture of the church. And as the church is taken out of the way, God will begin to step into time in an even greater way and begin to deal with the inhabitants of earth. And in the time of the great tribulation, it will be a time when wrath is not only poured

out upon the inhabitants of the earth that have completely turned against the things of God, but it will also be a time when God's wrath is poured out upon an apostate Israel and bring about national repentance for the nation of Israel. And so it will take place during that time of the tribulation, and it will continue until Jesus returns to the earth. And then after that will come the millennial reign, and at the end of the millennial reign, we will see the ultimate defeat of Satan. And that's what he's saying. He said, you have to understand

the day of the Lord. That's what he's referring to when he says that. That day of the Lord, he says, will come. It will come like a thief in the night. In other words, it will come in a very unexpected sort of way. It will come when people aren't paying attention, when people are not prepared. He says that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. Why? Because in verse 3 it

says, while they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. I would like you to take note of the difference of the pronouns that he uses there, because now all of a sudden he has switched to they and them, referring not to himself and the rest of the believers in Thessalonica, but some other group of people. That's because I believe that the rapture will take place before all of this. He says, they will be saying peace and safety. What will prompt

them to say that we're living in peace and safety? Well, according to Daniel chapter 9, after the peace treaty that's signed. There will be a covenant that is made with an antichrist, with a ruler who will say, I've got a plan. I have a plan for peace. I have a plan to bring political peace. I have a plan to bring economic peace. And I have a plan to bring religious peace. Oh my gosh, it's the three-legged stool. If you don't know anything about the three-legged stool, you should just look up. Google three-legged stool sometimes. It's a fascinating study. That's the three-legged stool. That's what everybody's looking for. Because what are all wars center around?

Political discord, economic discord, and religious discord, right? Well, there's going to be this guy that comes along and says, I have a plan to solve all three of these things. And everything's going to look great until in the middle of that week, in the middle of that tribulational period, he will say, but now you should start worshiping me as God. And all of a sudden, the wrath will come down like no one's ever seen before. It will be a day unlike anything else. It's referred to as a time of Jacob's

trouble. When they are saying peace and safety, then sudden destruction. I want you to notice what else he says about this destruction. He says, destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child. Now, I've never actually had a baby myself. I know that's shocking to all of you, but I've been a part of the process twice now. And I do know a little something about the labor

pains. I think I've shared with you before the time that my wife got the epidural and I had to support her like this. And my back hurt. And I had to support her like this. And I had to support her like this. And my back hurt so bad by the time I was done supporting her in the middle of that epidural. And I looked over at the nurse and I said, my back is killing me. She said, mine too.

Don't tell your wife. And I haven't told her that since. She's watching online right now. She now knows. But I know a little bit about this whole labor thing. And I know that it comes in a very unexpected sort of way. But the unexpected way that it comes doesn't mean that you don't know it's coming. You just don't know when it's coming. And I believe that during that time, there's going

to be this sense that something's just not right, but they just don't know when the other shoe is going to drop. And I believe that during that time, there's going to be this sense that something's just not right, but they just don't know when the other shoe is going to drop. With my oldest daughter, we went to bed that night knowing that things were about to happen because we were sensing that things were beginning to take place. The intensity of some potential contractions was starting to happen, but we didn't know when, which is why at 1130 at night when my wife almost broke my hand, I knew it must be time, right? And then with my youngest daughter, it was a little bit

different. I woke up that morning and I got ready for work. And my wife finally came to me and she said, it's time. And it was time because that's the way it will come. That's the way that that time of the end is going to be. They will be saying peace and safety. And then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant. And then I want you to notice the last one. And they will not escape. That may be the most sobering

statement in that entire section. They will not escape. It will come suddenly. It will come unexpectedly. And there will be no escape. That's what the day of the Lord is going to be like. And he says, there's no reason for me to write to you about the times and the seasons because I've already told you about those. But here's what I do want you to know. So as he talks to them about this day of the Lord,

he says in verse six, he starts to tell them who they are. This is who you are. No, excuse me. Verse four. But you brethren, are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light. You are all sons of day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. The first thing he tells them is what they are not. They are not of the darkness. You're not sons of darkness. You are not

of the night. In other words, you are not ignorant of spiritual realities. You are not ignorant of the spiritual realities of what's going on around you like the rest of the world is because as believers in Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us so that that day should not overtake you as a thief. That's why even the most dense of believers right now, and I use that seriously because there are some people that are just a little bit dense as believers because they won't get into God's word and they won't really understand what's going on. They tend to sense that something's going on right now. Have you?

Notice that? That even people of the most liberal churches are kind of like, man, I don't know. This just feels weird. Everything feels weird right now. It's because no matter what, we are not of darkness. That's not who we are. We're not ignorant of these spiritual realities like the rest of the world is. Like the rest of the world is. Instead, who are you? You are sons of light and you are sons

of day. The word sons, as it's used in ancient literature, always speaks of someone who bears the characteristic of their father, or one who bears the characteristic of another. That's why Jesus is called the Son of Man and the Son of God because he was fully man bearing the characteristics of man and he was fully God bearing the characteristics of God. Well, that's what Paul tells us we are right now as believers in Jesus Christ.

We are sons of the day. We are sons of the light. That's who we are. Our lives are lived in the light of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are lived in the light of God's Word. Our lives are lived in the light of truth. That's why as you get into God's Word and examine what's going on in the world right now based upon God's Word, we're all seeing the things stack up. We're all seeing

the things take place because you are not sons of the light. You are not sons of darkness, or you are not sons of the night, or sons of darkness. You are sons of the day. You bear the characteristics of light in your life. And I think it's important that we understand that because every now and I think, man, this guy picks up on a whole lot more than I do, but it's okay. I still am a son of the

light because I recognize the things that are going on in the world around us. And so since that's who we are, we know the day of the Lord is coming. We're not going to be overtaken like a thief because we are children of the light. What should we do? Verse six, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at

night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. It tells us three things ultimately that we should do. The first thing that he tells us that we need to do is that we need to be sober and alert.

We need to be sober and alert. It's what he says right there. So then let us not sleep as others do. Now the word for sleep here is different than the word that he used in chapter four. It's a different Greek word. The Greek word in chapter four spoke of the potential of some aspect of death, right? Let us not mourn for those who sleep as those who have no hope. That was the

sleep of death. The sleep that he's talking about here is more of a stupor. As a matter of fact, it's defined like this, a spiritual apathy and lethargy. A spiritual apathy or lethargy. Someone who is indifferent to spiritual reality. Now you're a child of the light, so you are aware of the spiritual realities. But sometimes we can be asleep and be indifferent to the spiritual realities. Does that make sense? He says no longer

sleep. Don't be in spiritual apathy. Don't be in spiritual lethargy. Don't be indifferent to the spiritual realities that go on around us. Well, I don't know about you, but when I say, when I see something that says, don't do that, I think, ooh, how do I keep from doing that? What would cause me to sleep? What would cause me to be in that place? Well, I've written down a couple of things.

I've actually written down two things. Number one, distractions. Number two, sin. Distractions. We live in a distractible world, don't we? Somebody just showed me the sweet picture before I came in here, and instead of ACDC, it said ADHD. And it said the highway to, oh, look, there's a squirrel, right? Like that's kind of how we live most of our lives. Like we can be a little bit ADHD when it comes to our spiritual lives. Am I right? We're like,

dear God, I'm not going to sleep. I'm going to sleep. I'm going to sleep. I'm going to sleep. I'm going to sleep. Jesus, I love you with all of my heart. Ooh, new clothes. Or, you know, you name the thing, right? Donuts. Sidebar story from when my wife and I were driving back and forth. We didn't even have kids yet, driving back and forth to Kansas City and everything. And we were coming down and visiting

my parents in Derby. And it will always, forever, for like 20 years now, be my desire to eat a little bit better. You know that about me, and I'm terrible at it, right? I'm like, today's the day I eat better. And then I've talked about brownies so many times, everybody just brings me brownies all the time. Right? Like, today's the day I eat better. And then somebody drops off a plate of brownies at

church, and I'm like, Jesus knows, right? Like, who am I to fight God? Well, we're on our way down to Derby, and we're having this entire conversation about eating better. And I'm like, yeah, you know, I think I got the workout thing going. I'm running. I'm doing really good. I just really need to change my diet. And I saw this sign that said donuts. And I said, ooh, donuts. And my wife

almost fell out of the car laughing. She's like, you are such a contradiction in terms. Constantly. And that's kind of the way we are in our spiritual lives, right? It's like, we want to follow Jesus with everything in us, but we get distracted. Sometimes not even by sin. Sometimes just by things, right? It takes me back to Hebrews chapter 12, where he says, therefore, since we are

surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. The word weight there is the idea of any kind of encumbrance. It may not necessarily be sin, but it's not helpful. You see, discernment is learning to decide what is best from what is okay. Does that make sense? And too many times, we allow the distractions, things that are okay,

but they don't help us, to be the thing that holds us back. And we get so distracted, and we live in that world of constant distractions. We carry the biggest distraction around in our pockets most of the time, right? That's why I leave mine in my office, because I don't want to get any kind of buzz. Wait, I don't want there to... It is Communion Sunday. I don't want there to be any

sort of buzzing going on in my pocket while I'm trying to talk, because I'll get distracted by it, right? Well, that's the world that we live in, and so if we want to prevent sleep in our life, we need to start eliminating distractions. Listen, I don't know what those are for you. I can't tell you what those are for you. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, because the distractions

for me may not be the same ones for you, and the ones for you will not be the same ones for me. But as he tells us, these are distractions in your life, and they may be okay, but they're not helpful. Then we start eliminating those distractions, and it keeps us from falling asleep. It keeps us from that spiritual lethargy. But of course, the second thing is sin.

And of course, in Hebrews chapter 12, he says, lay aside the weight, the encumbrances, and the sin, which so easily ensnares us. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing that hardens the heart more than continual sin. There is nothing that will lull us to sleep to a greater degree than sin in our lives. And oftentimes, we find ourself in this place where we have these areas of sin that we entertain, these areas of sin that we put up with, these areas of sin that we excuse and say, but that's just the way that I am.

And the longer that we do that, the more it lulls us to sleep. It's like calluses that form on your head. Eventually, at first, it causes a blister, right? Like when you're doing lots of work with your hands, at first, you get a blister, and it kind of hurts, and it reminds you, hey, that's a problem. But pretty soon, as you continue to do that same work with those same hands,

the blister that hurt you at first turns into a callus that causes you to not feel. That's what sin does to us spiritually. At first, it kind of hurts, but the more that you keep doing it, that's what it does to us spiritually. At first, it kind of hurts, but the more that you that pain turns into a callus, and now you no longer feel. And that lack of feeling causes us

to drift off into spiritual lethargy. And pretty soon, you're asleep, just like the rest of the world around you. And sometimes these are gray areas of Scripture. Sometimes these are kind of unspoken areas of our lives. But the longer that we let them exist, the more that we tend to go to sleep. And what an unfortunate thing it is that we're not able to sleep. And we're not able to

think that we would all be asleep. He says, be alert and be sober. Number one, don't sleep. Let us not sleep as the others do. Instead, we are to, first of all, be alert. The word alert means watchful and vigilant. Watchful and vigilant. In other words, you are always paying attention. You are always watching what goes on around you. To be watchful for the areas of distraction in your life. To be watchful for the areas of sin in

our life. To be watchful of the things that are going on in the world. And to be vigilant about doing something about the things that are going on in the world. To be vigilant about being active about the things that are going on in the world. You know, one of the problems that we have right now is the church, and he addressed this in the 1916 project the other day, is that we know what's

going on, and yet we refuse to act on it. We know that there's problems, and we refuse to do it. We refuse to do anything about it. And as the church, that's not the way that we're supposed to be. As the church, we are supposed to be the ones who stand up and say, this is wrong, let's deal with it. This is the problem, let's address it. This is sin, let's confront it. And that's what

the church is supposed to do. That's why nobody liked Jesus when he lived on earth. It wasn't because he was such a nice guy. It wasn't because he served everyone around him. It wasn't because he showed grace to the most ungracious people in the world. It's because he confronted people with sin. He was watching. He was watching. He was watching. He was watching. He was watching. He was

watchful. He was alert. He was vigilant to the things that were going on around him, and then he acted on those things. And the problem that's taken place in our country, and it's been taking place for a long time, is that we as a church have just sat by and watched. We just watch as these things go on. And we either don't show up at a ballot box, or we're not willing to take a

stand, or we're not willing to get on our knees, or we're not willing to do something about it. Instead, we find ourselves just sitting back saying, I'm just going to hope it changes. The problem with that is that it never does. He says, number one, be alert. But number two, be sober. The word sober speaks of having a proper value of things, or to be self-controlled. It doesn't mean that you can't have passion. It

doesn't mean that you can't be excited about things. It doesn't mean that you need to become some stoic who is completely unemotional and unmoved by the things around you. I think if anybody wasn't that way, it was Paul. But it does mean to really understand what's going on, and to know when it's time to be serious, to know when it's time to act, to know what needs to be done, and then to do it.

Working with kids for years, one of the things you learn is which classes, especially teaching classes, which classes you can joke with and which ones you can't. And that's really hard for me to find a class that I can't joke with, because some of them just can't handle it, because they don't know how to be sober. They don't know when it's time to be sober. They don't know when it's time to pull it back in and say, okay, now we have to be serious. Now we have to get something done. Now

we really need to talk. And so you're trying to talk to them about something serious, and they're still cracking jokes. And listen, I love to laugh as much as the next guy. I love humor. I love being mildly irreverent every now and then. But you have to know, you have to know when it's time to be serious. And listen, we're living in a world right now where I'm pretty sure it's time to get

serious, where it's kind of time for us to be self-controlled. Kind of time for us as the church to step up and be the church. And as we look at this landscape of things right now, especially as we move into this next week, brothers and sisters, do not go to sleep. Be alert. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because hard times are coming. And we need to be aware of that. I don't know how Tuesday is going to end, but I do know this. It's not going to end well.

I don't care who gets elected. It's going to get ugly. And I just feel like that's the case. And we need to be ready for that. Not because we need to get ugly, but because we need to be the church. Because we need to be ready to minister to people, listen, even if they didn't vote like us. We need to be ready to minister to people, even if they don't look like us. We need to be ready

to minister to people, no matter what direction their life is going. Because again, I see bad things in the future. That's your hopeful message for today. But we are to be prepared. And this preparation means we need to be alert and sober. Why? Because those that sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk, get drunk at night. And you are not of the night. You're of the day. So act like you are children of the day.

Act like you are sons of the light. And so he says, first of all, be alert and be sober. Number two, he says to put on the armor. Notice what it says. Verse eight. Since we are of the day, let us be sober, he says it again, interestingly enough, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. He tells us to put on two pieces of armor. The

first one carries two characteristics. He tells us, first of all, to put on the breastplate of faith and the breastplate of love. Isn't it interesting that he couples those two words together with that which protects all of your central organs, all of the important organs of your body need to be protected by two things. They need to be protected by faith, and they need to be protected by love.

Number one, your faith in God. You need to remember that God is God, and you are not. And whoever's in the White House is not. And whoever's running the government is not. God is God. Satan is not as powerful as God. God is God. And you need to have that faith. You have to hold on to that faith. Because right now, I'm seeing so many people get so discouraged.

I'm seeing so many people give in to the discouragement of the world. Myself, sometimes, as I see the things going on, and I can give in to that discouragement. And the reason why is because I've forgotten that God is God, and I am not. It is not my job to change everyone. It is not my job to make sure that everything happens the way that it's supposed to. It's my job to serve God and let him be God. And as I continue to believe,

hold on to that faith, it protects my heart. My heart that is so prone to discouragement. My heart that is so prone to worry and fear. Because when you can take the heart out, then it's really hard for someone to continue to move forward. But have faith in God. But the second thing that he tells us that we are to protect our organs with is love. What does he mean by love there? Well, he means love for other people. How does that protect you?

How does love for other people protect us? Well, because it means that we're only doing what God's called for us to do. We're only focused on what God has called for us to do, which is to love one another. And there's great protection, because in the will of God, there is great safety. In the will of God, there is great peace. In the will of God, there is the knowledge that you've done

everything within your power. Now, everything else is up to him. The last commandment that Jesus left is that you would love one another as he has loved you. And that's the last commandment that he has loved you. But it even goes beyond just each other in the church. Because do you remember what he told us in the Sermon on the Mount? He said, some have said, love your neighbor and hate

your enemy. I tell you, love your enemy. Pray for them. Do good to them. Because in doing so, you will ultimately bless them. That's what heaping coals of fire on there. I know sometimes I burn them down with love. No, it means ultimately it's a blessing to them. That's what that phrase means. Because ultimately, we bless them. Well, Ryan, what if they keep treating me bad? Well,

then you're in the protection of God, because you've done everything that God has called for you to do. You continue to love. Now, love doesn't mean we don't confront. Because Jesus, if we love like he did, confronted people all the time. Love doesn't mean we don't tell the truth, because Jesus told people the truth all the time. But love does mean that I constantly show grace. I'm willing to

extend an arm of forgiveness. And restoration is always the way to go. And I'm willing to extend an arm of grace at the heart of everything that I do. He says, put on faith and love. And then he tells us to put a helmet on our heads. The helmet that he tells us to put on our heads is the helmet of salvation. And as a helmet, the hope of salvation. Why? Because where do most of our

battles take place? They take place in our heads, right? They take place in our thought life. So if we put a helmet of salvation on, it first of all brings me peace in times of anxiety. Because no matter what else is going on in the world, it does not change the fact that I belong to Jesus, and my soul is secure in him. You can do whatever you want to to everything else, but I belong to Jesus. And

so I put on that helmet of salvation. And so it eases the anxiety that I have in my life. But not only does it ease the anxiety that I have in my life to put on the helmet of salvation, but it also keeps my mind focused. It keeps my mind focused. Remember we talked about distractions? Getting distracted? Well, if I put on the helmet of salvation, then it always keeps me focused on the

main thing. I don't know if you realize this or not, but as Christians, we have a tendency to not stay focused on the main thing. Have you ever noticed that about yourself? All of a sudden, you're off on some tangent. Well, I watched this video on YouTube. Okay, tell me what you watched on YouTube. And then they go on to tell me some crazy thing. I'm like, can we just go ahead and stick to the main thing? Let's just stick to the fact that you belong

to Jesus, and you're going to pursue knowing him. And let's let Captain Underpants over there do whatever he's going to do on YouTube, okay? I say that with as much love and grace as I possibly can because of some of the things people tell me they have found on the YouTube. But it keeps us focused, focused on the main thing. And the main thing is who we are in Christ.

He says,

Yeah, I know what you're saying there, Ryan. It means that none of us are going to go to hell as believers in Jesus Christ. And that's true. But in the context, that's not the wrath he's talking about here, is it? In the context of the scripture, and I'm a big sucker for context, in the context of the scripture, the wrath that he's talking about here is the day of the Lord that will come like a

thief in the night that will have sudden destruction. Much like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and no one will escape. But you and I as believers have not been appointed to wrath. And that's the hope of our salvation. You see, salvation has three tenses to it, right? The first tense of salvation is that you have been saved. That's what happened to you, that the day that you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have

been saved. And you are as secure as you can possibly be in that salvation. You are being saved currently. We often refer to that as sanctification. It's a process that you're going through. Not that you're not as saved and sanctified as you can possibly be, but you're in the process of becoming who you really are in position. But then there's a third tense of

salvation. That third tense means you will be saved. That speaks of glorification. We're told in Romans that we are waiting for the redemption of the bodies. That means that we will be saved from all of the sins of the world. And that's what we're talking about. We're talking about the things of this earth and all of the wrath of this earth. That's what we're waiting for. That's

the hope of our salvation, is that we won't have to go through what everybody else is going to have to go through. And that's not escapism, although I can't wait to escape. That's not escapism. That's just the reality of scripture. Because I don't know what's going to happen until the time that Jesus comes to take his church home. But I do know that that time of tribulation is a whole lot more

than just persecution, and it's the wrath of God. You and I, we weren't destined for wrath. What were we destined for? We were destined to obtain salvation because Jesus died for us. You notice that he brought the gospel into this crazy thing again. Jesus died for you. It says it right there. God's not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.

Brothers and sisters, we can't talk about the time of the end without also talking about the presence of the gospel because the death of Jesus Christ is at the center of everything that we do in the center of everything that we believe and because he died for us we believe that we will live with him because if God did not spare his own son how much more will he not withhold every good thing from us and so he says that whether we wake or whether we sleep we will be with him forever there's that promise again the promise that no matter how you feel about any of this the truth remains we will be with Jesus forever and we can hold on to that hope because why we know what the end of the game is so he's told us that what we are to do

knowing that the day of the Lord is coming knowing that we are children of the light not children of the darkness number one we should be sober and alert number two we should put on the armor but then number three we should encourage one another notice what it says in verse 11 therefore encourage one another build one another up just as you also are doing that word encourage here it is again same word we've talked about multiple times throughout the book of first Thessalonians means to call to one side you are to encourage one another in other words you are to encourage one another in other words we should put on the armor but then number three we should continually and I don't even know if this really happens like it should in any church

we should continually be coming alongside each other and saying Jesus is coming back I know it's hard now I know that these things are difficult now but you do need to know that Jesus is coming back and they're not they're not going to end forever or they're not going to be like this forever it is going to end this this is not it this place is not your destiny this place is not your home wrath is not what waits you salvation is what waits you and we should continually be what awaits you and we should be coming alongside each other and encouraging one another with those words all the time is this world that we live in is hard and the things that we have to go through

in this world are hard my daughter the other day had to have her wisdom teeth out like the rite of passage of every teenager right she had to have her wisdom teeth out and and it hurts right like she she's dealt with some pain and and and it's just not a fun situation and and Aaron and I are going to be there for you and I'm going to be there for you and I'm going to be there for you because we've both been through it can look at her and say it's okay sweetheart you're not going to be like this forever it's it's not always going to hurt it is going to heal up you are going to be able to eat a cheeseburger again right like all that this it's this is not going to last forever

we can put our arm around her and encourage her because we've been through it and that's what we're supposed to do for each other is we're supposed to encourage one another and then the second thing that he tells us that we are to do is that we are to build one another up some of your translations may say edify but it means to build one another up and that's what we're supposed to build up and that's exactly what we're supposed to do with each other is we're supposed to build one another up and again I say this because oftentimes in a church people tend to tear each other down Christians are unlike anything I've ever seen before because we have a tendency to eat our own and when we see someone a little bit down we like to pile on and I don't know

why this is I don't know if it makes us feel better about our own walk or what it is but but we tend to pile on each other and we tend to do the whole well you know you should have known better or you know you really should be doing this and it's like man sometimes you just need somebody to come alongside and say what can I do for you how can I pray for you how can I build you up I appreciate your faithfulness to come to church you name the thing I don't know what it is but to build one another up that's what the body is supposed to do and that's what the family of Christ is supposed to do for each other is to build one another up and I love how he closes with this just as you also are doing I love it because he's not telling

them this isn't something that you're doing already and yet he tells them you should keep doing it don't grow weary in doing it continue to build each other up you're doing it keep up the good work keep up the process keep up what you're doing and I want to tell you guys because I do think that we are a church that builds each other up I I hear people come in here for the first time and they say man I just really sense God at work here because I I can I can feel the body building each other up but listen we can't stop we got to keep going we've got to keep pursuing God building one another up reaching in to build up the body and reaching out with the gospel to all of the people around us amen that's what God calls us

to do and so the day of the Lord is coming but remember who you are you're a child of the light a child of the day so you should be alert don't go back to sleep well I mean that's a service I don't care what you do about that but but don't go to sleep spiritually speaking put on the armor and continue the work of encouraging the body of Christ amen I'm going to invite the worship team to come up because this morning is communion Sunday and so as always I want to spend just a few moments talking to us about communion as always in each of these trays there's a bunch of cups they're stacked together the bottom couple have the cracker and the top couple have the juice

and we are reminded that this is this is a sacred meal that we partake in together as believers in Jesus Christ this is the last thing that Jesus celebrated with his disciples before he before he went to the cross and it's the biggest thing that that he calls one of the biggest things he calls for us to do on a consistent basis to do it often because he tells us as often as we do this we declare the death of the Lord we declare the fact that Jesus died for us which is at the centerpiece of the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ is his death for us and so we're told to make sure that we really do this in a worthy manner and so remember as we look at these cups there's nothing magical about the things

that are and they don't become anything magical they're representative and yet they're so powerful in what they represent because on that last great night of the feast Jesus took the bread he broke it he said this is my body it's broken for you take and eat so as we partake of the bread we are reminded that Jesus was broken for us that his hands and his feet were pierced that his side was pierced that he was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquity the chastisement for our peace was laid upon him and that by his stripes we are healed and then of course he took that cup and said this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you take and drink and we're reminded that as we drink of the cup

we are reminded there was one thing that God required for the forgiveness of sins and that was the blood of a sacrifice and for years the children of Israel had been covering their sin with a sacrifice until Jesus came and he became the ultimate sacrifice that didn't just cover sin but he took it away so as you partake of that cup I want you to remember that that's the blood that once applied to your heart did away with all of your sin and made you a child of the light so as we're here this morning I want to make sure that you understand that this is a serious thing that we do if you're not a believer then then today needs to be your day of salvation because I want you to be able to partake in the meal with us but because I want you to go to heaven

with us and so if you're here this morning and you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior today's the day for you to cry out to him confess your sin to him and ask him to become your Savior but as believers here this morning I want to remind you that the word tells us that our hearts are to be cleaned before the Lord and so if there's any confession to the Lord that needs to be made during this last song is a great time to make confession to the Lord to get your heart right and to remind yourself that the blood of Jesus Christ continually cleanses us from all sin so the ushers are going to come down and they're going to hand out the elements as you receive your elements if you would please stand and we'll all partake together

let all the Earth Rejoice Rejoice in light darkness tries too hot and trembles would you bow with me father we come to you now and Lord I just thank you for your sacrifice that was made for us Lord I thank you for the hope of salvation that we have because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for his body that was broken Lord pierced and striped broken because of our iniquities father we thank you for the body of Jesus father we thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for the remission of sin Lord your blood that is enough to cover all of our sin Lord your blood that is the one thing that unites all of us as believers together that we have all been washed by the blood of Jesus so father we thank you for your sacrifice keep us ever in mind

and right now rejuvenating and Mother Worship you if you will and Lord wish each of us a moment of silence amen let's all repent and take our mission as we do let's keep unbound sod my precious blood and open your heart and we say thank you for your plants and for your love that you have shed for us alert and focused. Father, that you would give us hearts that are ready, Lord, for whatever comes upon us. And Lord, hearts that trust in you. And so, Father, we thank you for who you are.

In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.