Good morning. I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this morning. Those of you who are joining us online, those media sources there, we welcome you. We would ask that you would stand with us. Would you join me in prayer? Father, I want to thank you for this opportunity again to come and gather us as believers. And if there be any that are new and going, what's this all about?

Well, we're going to be singing to Jesus, our holy God, because he saved us because we were lost. We would ask, Lord, that you would touch the hearts of any that might not know you here, that they would know that you love them. And so we ask for your blessing on our service. Those times that we want to just back off and allow ourselves to worry about the way we sound, or maybe pride might set in and we just don't want to.

Lord, this is just an opportunity to together corporately express our love to you and your worthiness, your worship, your song. So bless our time, Lord.

You may be seated.

We thank you for your unfailing love. Believe us, not forsake us. That's a promise.

So as we're living this life, we're looking forward to the promise he made that when we leave here, this earth will be with him and glory to Jesus. Thank you that we belong to you. Thank you that you're with us yet. As long as we're standing up, we don't even have to be standing up and moving about as long as we've got breath within us. You're not finished.

We can pray. We can trust you in it.

Would you all stand? We consider eternity and we think of the temporal things of life, Lord. We know there are those things in life we have to deal with, all those things we have to face and situations. But may they not take priority over eternity, Lord. But the temporal will pass. But eternity is forever. And so, Lord, we just thank you. We just want you, Lord, to strengthen us and that we would live life in a way that we know that you could come any time or you could take us home any time.

But you could tarry in that way, too. You really don't tarry because you have a time. We're the one that's waiting. And so, Lord, may we just trust you.

Praise you, Lord Jesus. And so, Father, as we continue our service now. We just thank you for that feeling afresh that you give us, Lord. We ask that feeling afresh of your Holy Spirit now as we worship you in song, as we're going to be studying your word now. We ask that you would give us open ears to hear your word as it comes forth. To see clearly what you want us to see as we allow you to work in our hearts, Lord.

That we would respond to your great love with which you loved us. In Jesus' name. Bless Ryan as he teaches. By your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. The Lord bless y'all. Let's have a little fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

You guys are way more compliant than first service. I don't know if I ever say that or not. Like I say that, first service people don't even listen to me. They just, they keep talking. And they're just like, whatever. It's like a class of high school kids. All right. Over on the left hand. This side of your bulletin are the things that are going on throughout the week.

So as always, find yourself a spot to get plugged into if you are not already. In the middle section of your bulletin, a handful of things to take note of. Ladies, there's a women's breakfast coming up this Saturday at Steamy Joe's at 8 o'clock. So get plugged into that. Should be a good time. Also, so usually on the first Sunday of every month, we do a time of intercessory prayer in the evening.

But we have decided that with the world and the state that it's in, and the upcoming election being, I think, a pretty pivotal election, we want to do it more than just once this month. So starting tonight, every Sunday until the election, we'll be having a time of intercessory prayer on Sunday nights. So come join us for that every Sunday evening throughout the month of October for a time just to pray for our nation, for our world, our community, the things going on in the body, and for the upcoming election. Operation Christmas Child.

Don't forget to be packing those boxes. I think I saw there's a handful more boxes back there again today. So it's good. All the boxes that they brought last week got picked up. So they brought some more. But also, if you are interested in going down to the distribution center, there's been a mild hiccup with that. The main place where all of the communication goes on for Samaritan's Purse is in Boone, North Carolina.

And so that's one of the places it was hit very hard with the flood. And so they were not able to get on on Tuesday morning to set up the time for us to serve down there. So we're not quite sure yet when that's going to be available. They basically said, hang on, we'll let you know. So we're not totally sure how all that's going to work just yet. So be in prayer for all the folks that have been involved, that have been affected by this hurricane.

So that's what's going on there. But also, if you are interested, Ross and Jana are taking a group down to serve in Georgia with Samaritan's Purse on November the 6th. And if you have interest in going down there, I know they've got 10 spots filled already. I said, well, can you fill more? And he said, let's see how much interest we have. So if you're interested in going down to help with that, I think they're going down there two or three days.

They're going to be down there serving. Oh, there you are. Yeah, two days. A couple days to travel and then a couple days there. Is that what I'm understanding? Three days total. So it'll be work. But hey, listen, this is good work that we're doing here. So if you're interested, see Ross and Jana after the service, and we'll see if we can't fill up another van for you.

Also, ladies, one thing that I failed to get into the bulletin is that on November the 2nd, they're going to be doing another one of those crafting things of some sort, right? What's it called? Like a make it and take it craft? Look at me. I'm going to be using my HGTV words. A make it and take it craft on November the 2nd. So they'll have signups out for that in the next week or two, right?

So anyway, take note of that, ladies. Mark your calendars. So those are the things that are going on. Oh, wait, no, I almost missed one. I almost got myself in a whole lot of trouble. If I could have Jordan Aerosmith, is she here? There she is. Come on up and share about a new ministry that we're getting rolling.

Good morning. I'm Jordan Aerosmith. This is my husband. Michael. Some of you may remember it. Some of you might not. But a long, long while ago, we used to have a food ministry called Agape Fruits where we would cook food and people from the community would come in that are in need and they would eat and they would, you know, go home. We are bringing it back.

Our first day is going to be November 10th. We are needing cooks and volunteers. The more cooks and volunteers we have, the more, the less work it's going to be. Since it's going to be two Sundays a month, the second and the fourth Sunday, if we have like 20 people sign up that want to help, then that means only a couple, like a couple times you would have to help in like a six-month period.

It wouldn't have to be an every week thing. And even if you can't cook, we are wanting people to come in and like, just visit with the people who are coming to eat. Try and build relationships with them and, you know, try and share the ministry and pray over them and just try and get to know them. We are needing, I have a list out there in the lobby of food that we actually need.

I have the first six meals planned out until we have time to do like an actual fundraiser to raise funds. But if you fell led, to donate in that way, we would gladly appreciate it. And if you have if you'd like to donate money there, that's wonderful, too. We are also doing a T-shirt fundraiser. We had a logo created by Miss Lauren over there. That's fantastic.

And we're going to be selling shirts for $20. It is a fundraiser that so we can kind of get a little kickstart going. So if you'd like to buy a T-shirt, that's out there as well. And then the sign up sheet. For to cook and volunteers out there. We accidentally made only 13 slots on that, but we can have way more than that. That was just I think that's yeah, that's we can have way more than that.

We are going to have a volunteer meeting on October 27th after church just to kind of go over some things and get to know people and see what actually they, you know, you want to do and help and T-shirt money is due October 20th. So we have enough time to get the shirts made and have them delivered. And be ready for November 10th. We're really, really excited about about this.

I feel like this is going to be a great way to get to know the community and and just spread God's word. And I'll be out in the lobby if anyone wants to talk to me after church. Thank you.

All right. Very good. Thank you, Jordan and Michael. I don't want to leave you out either. All right. For our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm six, Psalm six, looking at the new American standard for this part. So that we hopefully say the same thing at the same time. If you need a copy of the new American standard should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm six, 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 Allen and the even verses. Psalm six for the choir director with stringed instruments upon an eight stringed lyre, a psalm of David. Oh, Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger. Nor chasten me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed and my soul is greatly dismayed.

But you, O Lord, how long return? O Lord, rescue my soul. Save me because of your loving kindness. For is there for there is no mention of you in death and she all who will give you thanks. I am weary with my sighing. Every night I make my bed swim. I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief. It has become old because of all my adversaries.

Depart from me. All you who do iniquity for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed. They shall turn back. They will suddenly be ashamed and father we come before you and I do thank you that you hear every one of our prayers. Lord the ones that we say the ones that we groan Lord.

Sometimes the ones that we don't even know how to put into words, but you interpret it for us. And so father I just pray that that you would speak to us now through your word and father. I also want to lift up the nation of Israel as we come upon the one-year anniversary Lord of that October 7th attack and Lord. I just pray for the peace of Jerusalem and father.

I pray for the protection of your people and Lord. I pray that that you would defend her against her enemies and father that we as a nation. And as a church in the United States would continue to stand with your people Israel because your word says you will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. It's the Lord move. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of first Thessalonians chapter 2. First Thessalonians chapter 2. Before we get into the study this morning while you're turning to first. Thessalonians chapter 2. I want to share just a little something with you a few weeks ago. We talked about vision and mission here and we have a vision of us continuing to grow which the Lord has been doing.

And so I want to share with you a little bit about what God is doing to to grow not only our church, but also our building. So we've got quite a few kids that are that are down at the other end of the hallway. And so about a year or so ago, the Sunday school teachers came to me and said, hey, we need bigger Sunday school classes. And I said, hey, that's a problem.

We're at a real estate in this church. There's just not enough room in the building. And so so we are going to be expanding the building. So the the materials will start to be delivered by the end of this month. And so hopefully in the next couple of months, we'll be really getting going with construction out here. But but let me just kind of paint the picture for you a little bit.

So what is currently the nursery and the nursing mother's room that will go away and become an enlarged fourier and we'll build a new nursery out there. We're going to expand. To the west, it'll create a walkway that goes out into a building towards the west that will have a bunch of new classrooms and some bathrooms and then also a multi-purpose room. So be about a think 50 by 100 building that we're going to be doing to add on.

And then the idea is that in the future, it will connect us to a new sanctuary and a new gym that will be out there. The goal is is for for the church to be out there and for this to become the children's center over here on this side. Those are kind of the steps that we're going to take. But the first step is this expansion. So so we're really excited about that.

There's always hoops to jump through. So we do ask for your prayers that you would be praying that that we would continue to find favor in the eyes of the city that that all the things work like they're supposed to, because I know construction projects and nothing ever goes the way you want for it to go the first time around. And and so just just keep praying for for us and and it's exciting times for Calvary Chapel, so the Lord keeps blessing and we just want to pray for it. So that's really the main thing.

So that's really the main thing. want to keep rolling with the vision that he has for us. So that's kind of what's going on so that you know. That way, if you show up one Sunday and you're like, hey, why is there an incredible amount of steel out in the yard? Well, that's why. It's because it's a new building. So those are the things that are going on with us. Now, as far as the word, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. So as we

looked at chapter 1, we said that we looked at the work of the gospel. And Paul had given thanks for what the gospel had done in the Thessalonian people and how the gospel had been blessing them and it changed them. They had turned from their idols to serve the living and true God. And then as we got into chapter 2, we saw the work of the minister. And we started into the

first part of that last week. Today is the work of the minister, part 2. And we said that Paul had to defend his ministry. They had to, he had to depart Thessalonica so quickly because of the persecution and because it created such a hotbed for the other believers there. That he had to depart quickly from Thessalonica. And so he wrote this letter not only because of

his excitement over what God was doing with them, but also to defend his ministry ultimately. Because those persecutors had come along and begun to say, hey, this Paul guy, he's really not all that great. And so they tried to defame him because if you can defame the messenger, then you can discredit the message. And so Paul takes chapter 2 to defend his ministry.

And as he defends his ministry in the work of 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, he says, what he was able to, him and the guys that were with him were able to do in Thessalonica. We said that in the midst of that defense, we pulled out six principles for what it looks like for us to be ministers of the gospel. Because we are all ultimately ministers of the gospel as believers in Jesus Christ, because we've all been given that great commission. And so we've been looking at those six things that it means to be a minister of the gospel. We covered the

first three last week. We said that we needed boldness, that we needed integrity, that we needed integrity, and that we needed to be gentle. Well, now we come to the last three today. And the first one that we'll cover today is that the minister must be diligent. The minister must be diligent. And so we pick up in verse 9, and this is what it says. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden

to any of you, we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers, just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Diligence. Now, as we look at this statement that the minister must be diligent, there's three things he's going to say.

Number one, we must be diligent in our work. We must be diligent in our work. He says, for you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship. That word labor literally means fatiguing labor, that which exhausts you. And when Paul showed up in Thessalonica, he started into his trade because he had a trade. You see, every Jewish man when they're growing up, not only would seek

perhaps some sort of education, but no matter how highly educated they are, they're going to they always had a trade so that if they were not able to make their money in their field of education, they could always provide for their families. And so Paul had this trade where he worked very hard. And quite frankly, I tell every young man that wants to get into the ministry the exact same thing. If somebody comes to me and says, I feel like God's calling me to ministry, I think I'm going to go to Bible college or I'm going to go to seminary, I always tell them either dual major or have a minor. You need to minor in business or you need to find something

in ministry as a way to make money. Because I'm here to tell you right now, the potential of you leaving college and finding a job in ministry that pays enough to support your family is very slim. That probably won't happen right away. You're probably either going to have to work two jobs or you're going to have to work a secular job and then be on unpaid staff at your church.

So I always tell them you're going to have to learn to work hard because listen, the work of the ministry is hard. And I praise God for the years, that I had to go through where I was dual income, where I had to provide for myself in that physical sort of way and then also be in the ministry. I remember when I came out of Bible college, I was like, well, I'm probably going to find some sort of a job in the ministry. I'm probably going to be on staff at some sort of a church and everything's going to be great. I'm going to live happily ever after and ride a sweet horse

off into the sunset. That horse thing was never on my mind, but the rest of it absolutely was. I was like, that's the way it's going to be. And then I came out of Bible college and nobody wanted to be a pastor. And so I had to get into the ministry and find a job. And I've worked all kinds of jobs. I've done groundskeeping. I've done construction. I've been a barista. I've been a

trash man. I have been in sales. And some of those I've done all at the same time because sometimes I've had to work two to three jobs plus do ministry in order to pay the bills. I heard somebody say one time, well, I might have to work two jobs. And I'm like, what? I mean, come on. It's okay. Learn to work. Learn to be that guy. Like I did it. I worked two jobs and did ministry for years. And that's an important thing. And I

praise God that it was like that. In the moment I was like, why Lord? And now I look back and I'm like, it absolutely made me who I am. And it absolutely taught me everything that I needed to know in order to truly be a minister. Because now when you come to me with the things you're going through in your job, I'm like, can't relate. I've never worked a secular job. When you come to

me and you tell me about the things going on in your job, I'm like, I get it. I've been there. Because I understand what that's like. And it's hard work. And it's hard to do that. And as a minister, I've had to do both things where I've worked really hard and then also had to be preparing Bible studies. The summer before I moved down here, I'm sure I've shared this before

because I share lots of things. But the summer before I moved down here, we were remodeling Blue Valley High School. And when we were remodeling Blue Valley High School, plans got changed because that's what happens in construction. And because the plans got changed, we had to have done before school started. It meant we had to work a lot of hours. So starting on July the 5th,

we worked seven days a week, 10 hours a day until August the 13th. And at that point in time, we got to go back to a normal work week. And in the midst of all of that, I was still leading the college ministry and helping out with youth ministry. And I don't tell you that because I want you to go, oh, that's so great. I tell you that because I say, I understand what Paul's

talking about here. Sometimes you have to labor intensively to do what you want to do. I listened to Gail Irwin. Speak on this one time, somebody asked him a question. They said, what do you think about ministers that have to work to provide for themselves in order to do the ministry? And he said, well, in the way that only, if you've never listened to Gail Irwin, you should look up a Gail

Irwin video sometime. And he said, well, you just have to understand as pastors, sometimes we have to work to support our habit, right? Because we love the ministry. We love teaching God's word. And that means that sometimes we have to work other jobs in order to support the habit of teaching God's word. And that's what Paul did. Paul worked hard while he was in the ministry.

And he worked hard so that he would not be a burden to the people, so that he could minister the gospel without being a burden to the people. Now, I do want to address one thing. Paul had no issue with pastors being paid. He had no issue with ministers being paid. He actually commanded it several different times in scripture that an elder is worthy of double honor and the workman

is worthy of his hire. There was a couple of times where he chose not to take that right. Once was in Thessalonica, which we're talking about right now, because he didn't want to be a burden because they financially were not able to support him. And the other time was when he was in Corinth because it was a part of his integrity that he chose not to. Everywhere else, Paul

received a salary from the church because he always had this philosophy. My goal is the gospel and I will do whatever it takes to give out the gospel. If the way that I can most effectively minister the gospel is for the church to support me so that I can devote myself fully to it, then that's what I'm going to do. But if the best way for me to give out the gospel is to show them that I'm not here for the money, I'm here to minister, then I will absolutely work a job and not get paid by the church so that I can give out the gospel. The point was he wanted to give out the gospel. And in this

situation, he said, when we were among you, we labored hard while we preached the gospel. You say, Ryan, what does this have to do with me? Because I'm not a preacher. I'm not a minister. I'm definitely not getting paid by a church. I'm glad you asked because there's actually a central point that Paul's making here, a central point that has to do with diligence.

Your work ethic is a part of your witness. Your work ethic is what the people around you see all the time. And if you have a poor work ethic, you have a poor witness because people will watch the way that you work and say, I thought that guy was, say it with me, a Christian, right? You should be the hardest working guy at your job. You should be the hardest working lady at your job. You shouldn't

have somebody tell you what to do next. You should be looking for the next thing to do. And I tell young people this all the time. You have got to show up. You've got to be on time. You've got to do what you're told. And if you really want to excel, find out what you can do, even when no one's watching, even when no one's telling you to do something. I remember being on a job one time

and I didn't know what to do because I was young and I didn't know, come here from Sikkim about anything. And I just kind of stood there for a few minutes and a guy walked up to me. He said, do not ever stand. I don't care if you have to pick up pieces of wire off of the ground, move, be moving. He handed me a broom and said, if you ever find yourself standing, start using one of these. And I've

never forgotten that because that's your work ethic and that is your witness. That's what the world looks at as far as whether or not you're truly a believer in Jesus Christ. And Paul said, we were diligent and as ministers, we should be too. So we're diligent in our work. Number two, we are to be diligent in our walk. Notice what it says in verse 10, it says you are witnesses. And so is God, how devoutly and

uprightly and blamelessly we behaved towards you believers. The word behave means manner of life or your walk or the way that you live your life. He says, you paid attention to how we behaved when we were among you. And he describes it with three different adverbs. He says, we behaved among you devoutly. We behaved among you devoutly. We behaved among you devoutly. We behaved among you devoutly.

If you're reading the old King James in here, go and take a look at that word. It says holily. No, I didn't stutter. It actually says holily. There's an extra L-I in there. And every commentator that I listened to that read that said, I have no idea where the extra L-I comes from. But the idea is unworldly. That's how the Amplified Bible translates it. We behaved

ourselves among you unworldly. In other words, we did not act like the world around us. We lived a separated life. And as believers in Jesus Christ, you need to understand something. Your life needs to look different from the world around you. And if it doesn't, then we have absolutely the right to ask the question, are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Because if you claim to be a believer, but your

life has never changed, I start to ask, are you actually a believer? Because when Jesus comes into your life, he doesn't just come into your life to give you a better life. He comes into your life to transform your life. And if your life is not being transformed, maybe the transforming agent isn't in there yet. And you need that transforming agent to do the work that Jesus

can only do in your life. Because we are to live lives that are unworldly. That's what it means to be diligent in our walk. And I'm here to tell you right now, the people around you, if you're living a worldly life, they're paying attention. And do you know one of the best things you can do if you're sitting here today going, man, that's me. My life looks just like the world around me. Then

today's the day you change. Then today is the day that you say, no more. I'm not going to change. I'm not going to be that guy. I'm not going to be, I'm not going to lack diligence in my walk anymore. I'm going to start living the way that Jesus wants me to live. I'm going to allow him to transform my life. You know what you need to do tomorrow? You need to go to everybody you work

with and say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I claimed that I was a Christian. I didn't look like a Christian. Ryan, what are they going to say? They're going to say, okay, and move on with life. But it will speak volumes to them because they will know he really means it. They really mean it. You need to go to your family, dads, if you're living just like the world. If your life doesn't look different than the world around

you, you need to sit down with your family when you get home and you need to look all of them square in the eye and you need to say, I'm sorry because I've been telling you I'm a godly dad and I'm not. And it's time for me to stop living a worldly life. And it's time for me to start doing it the way that Jesus wants me to do it. And I'm here to tell you right now, it will revive your family. That's what needs to start taking place because we need to be diligent in our walk. He

says, we walked among you. We behaved devoutly. We behaved uprightly, similar word to devoutly. In other words, in a righteous sort of way. But the third one's the one I want to point out to you, the word blamelessly. In other words, no one can bring a charge against you. There's a beautiful illustration of this in the Old Testament with the prophet Daniel. If you know very much about

the prophet Daniel, you know that Daniel was taken from his home as a teenager because he was captured by the Babylonian empire and he was brought into the Babylonian empire. And he ended up becoming a leader in Babylon because of his witness for God. Well, after Babylon was taken over by the Medo-Persians, Daniel remained in his position, oddly enough. And he found himself in one of the highest positions in the Medo-Persian empire at that point in time. And all of the other leaders were jealous of

Daniel. And so they said, we need to take Daniel down. Let's do it by investigating him and seeing if we can find something to do with him. And so they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they

started investigating him, right? They started looking into his financial dealings and there was nothing wrong with that. They started looking at his internet search history and there was nothing wrong with that. They started looking back into all of his Snapchats and there was nothing wrong with that. They looked into all those things and they couldn't find anything

wrong with them. They said, we can't find anything about Daniel. He is blameless except for one thing. He loves his God too much. You see, brothers and sisters, that's the idea of what it means to be diligent in our walk. That you are blameless. blameless, that no one can bring, it's not perfect, but no one can bring charges against you because you love your Jesus so much. Brothers and sisters, our walk is our witness and it tells

everybody else who we are. Number three, he tells us to be diligent in our ministry, to be diligent in our ministry. Notice what it says in verse 11, just as you know, we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his children so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. He said, you know how we were among you. And he again lists three things. Number one, when we were among you, we were exhorting you.

We were exhorting you. That word exhorting means to call to one side. That's the idea of that word exhort. It means to call to one side. Now, that's kind of what it's taking place here, right? There's a beautiful thing about this because we can do this on a large scale and then we can do this on a small scale. This morning, each of you are being called to my

side. Don't come up here on stage. I don't want you actually at my side right now. That would be weird. But I'm calling you all to my side so that I can teach you what I have learned from God's word. This is what I studied this week. This is what I learned about God and what I see him doing in my life. And so I'm calling each of you to my side to explain it to you. And now you guys can do

the same thing with your sphere of influence. I can't do this with every single one of you because this is second service, right? Like I got two services full of people, plus people watching online. I can't do it with every single individual. I can do it with some individuals, but not everybody. But that's where your sphere of influence starts to come into play because now you can start

to call people to your side in your small group, in your family, in your home, in your friend group. You can call them to your side and say, hey, this is what we talked about today. Maybe you go to lunch after church with somebody and you say, hey, let's talk about what Pastor Ryan talked about. Did you agree with it? Of course you agreed with this. Best thing you've ever heard in your life.

Anyway, did you agree with what Ryan said? What'd you think about some of those things? See, that's calling someone to your side and exhorting them. You're teaching them what God is teaching you. And not only are we to call one to our side, dads, which again, I'm going to point this out. I'm going to keep being hard on dads in here because you guys are the leaders in your

families. You guys are the leaders in your homes. God has called you to be the leaders in society, even though society doesn't like to hear that right now. And we need you to start being leaders. Step up. We need you to step up and call your family to your side and start teaching them what God's word has to say. I don't know what it has to say. Time to figure it out. Time for you to start

getting God's word and start learning it for yourself so that you can call your family to your side and you can exhort them. Because what example does Paul give here as a father does with his children? And so dads, we need you right now. And if, listen, if some of you are here and you don't have a dad in your life, then you need to start adopting a dad from this church. You need

a dad from this church that will take you alongside them and encourage you. And men, if you know some kids in this church that don't have a dad in their life, it's time for you to take them alongside. And it's time for you to start showing them what it looks like to walk with Jesus. Because that's how it starts to happen. That's how society begins to be pointed

to the truth of Jesus Christ. He says, we exhorted you. And then we encouraged you, which is the same idea of exhorting only in more of an active sort of way. And then the third thing is imploring you. We were imploring you. The word imploring means to testify. And it carries with it the idea of personal experience. Again, another of the places where in scripture, I'm reminded that

the best thing that I can do as a pastor is to overshare. To overshare with you the experiences that I've had in my life, because that's what God has called for me to do. Because that's imploring you. That's testifying to you of what God is able to do in your life because of what he's done in my life and what I've seen him do in the lives of people around me. And that's what you need to do.

You need to implore other people. You need to testify of what God has done. There's a couple of different groups of people I've worked with over the years. When I do premarital counseling with couples, I encourage almost all of them, unless I forget, which happens. I encourage almost all of them, you should find a mentor couple. If you're a married couple and you're especially a

young married couple, you should find a mentor couple. Someone, a husband and wife that has been in a very strong relationship and invite them over for dinner. Invite them out for coffee. Do some things with them and say, how did you guys end up where you are today? How is it that you're married 30 years later? Tell me about what God has done in your relationship, because then they can

implore you. They can testify to you of what God has done in their relationship. But the other thing is I always tell young people, you should find an older person, someone who's walked with God for a long time to testify of what God has done in their life. I shared this with a group of kids one time and Pastor Dave from over at First Baptist came up to me. He goes, why did you tell your kids to go

find someone old to tell them about Jesus? Somebody came up to me and said, hey, Pastor Ryan said to find an old person to tell them about Jesus. Can you help? And he was like, I said, that's not exactly what I said. I mean, that's the idea, but I didn't tell him to call you old, but that's how it gets translated. Someone that you can testify. Of the truth of who Jesus is. He says, we implored you. And what did we implore you to do?

That you would walk worthy, that your walk would match your talk, to be diligent in your ministry. And so the minister is to be diligent. Next, the minister is to be fruitful. The minister is to be fruitful. It says in verse 13, for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of God, which also

performs it. You accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews who both came to you and said, I'm going to kill the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but are

hostile to men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost fruitful. One of the things, one of the marks of being a minister of God's word is that God's word always produces fruit. And it should be producing fruit in your life and in the lives of the people that you are around if you are truly giving out God's word. We'll talk about how God's word never returns void in just

a moment, but let's look at what they did to produce fruit or the kind of fruit that was produced. The first type of fruit that was produced is that they received the word. Paul said, we thank God for you. This is very similar to what he says in chapter one. He said in chapter one, he said, we thank God for you that they accepted the gospel and turned from idols to

worship the one true God. Now he goes back to that same theme and says, we thank God for you that when you received the word from us, you received it as it truly was the word of God. And I will point something out to you and I'll spend the next few minutes camped out on this. We need to understand something that this book is exactly what he just said. It is not the word of men. It is the word

of God. And it has all of the power that goes along with it being the word of God. You see, all of scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction of righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. That's what this is. And when they heard it, they said, this isn't just another

philosophy. This isn't just another idea. This isn't just some man's thought. This is the word of God and it's taking its hold in our lives because they started seeing it produce fruit in their lives. And so they received God's word. But I want you to notice how else he refers to God's word. Not only is it directly from God, but he refers to it as, end of verse 13, the word of God, which also performs its work in you

who believe. Here's the beautiful thing. The word of God doesn't stop just at salvation. It continues to do its work. And it especially does its work in you who believe. The word believe means to have your confidence in. In other words, as we put our confidence, in God's word, it keeps producing its fruit in our lives. The Amplified Bible translates it like

this. The word of God, which exercises inherent supernatural power in those of faith. It exercises inherent supernatural power in those of faith. And I find that so many people say, you know, I just don't get that much out of the word. I don't just see, I don't see how God's word has all that much power. Then my friends, you've never allowed it. It's power to be unleashed in your life. Because I'm here to tell you right now,

the word of God is powerful. Hebrews refers to it as sharper than any two-edged sword able to pierce between bone and marrow. That's the testimony of what God's word is. That's what God's word says about God's word. But let me tell you what Ryan says about God's word. What Ryan says about God's word is it absolutely has the power to heal, the power to restore, and the

power to transform. And I'm not telling you that because I read it in a book. I'm telling you that because it's a book. I'm telling you that because it's a book. And I'm telling you that because it's happened in my life. I was asked a question here recently, about a week or so ago. A guy said, why are you so passionate about giving out God's word the way that you do? You don't just do topical

studies. You just go straight through the word and don't let anything slow you down, even if it's awkward to talk about. Why do you teach God's word that way? And I really gave it some thought, you know, because I have to ask myself every now and then, why do I do what I do? And why do I do it the way that I do? I question those things sometimes. And I thought, okay, so do I do it

just because it's what I do? And I thought, okay, so do I do it just because it's what I do? And I saw example, maybe do I do it because I grew up in a Calvary chapel and that's what's always done in Calvary chapels, possibly. Do I do it because that's the way my Bible college taught me how to do it? Maybe. But at the end of the day, I told him, you know why? It's because I firmly believe

that God's word has the power to restore lives because I have watched it restore mine. I watched God's word heal me. I watched God's word restore me. I watched God's word transform me. And it has so much power. And I watched God's word transform me. And it has so much power. And it has so much power that we do not give it credit for. I would tell you, if you don't see the power of God's word

in your life, are you really getting into God's word? Are you really allowing it to unleash its power in your life? Because God's word is able to do so much in you because it has that inherent supernatural power released by the Holy Spirit. And it always does what it's sent out to do. It always accomplishes its purpose. I was in a counseling session with somebody one time,

and I kept telling them what God's word has to say and kept taking them back to scripture. You should read these scriptures. You should read these scriptures. And they said, could you just stop quoting God's word to me? And I was like, I don't think I can do that. No, I'm going to keep doing this because it works. They're like, no, you don't understand. I need something besides God's

word. I'm like, no, no, you don't. You need God's word because God's word addresses what you're going through right now. But I think you don't want to deal with it, which is why you don't want me to tell you what God's word is. I'm like, I don't want to deal with it. I'm like, I don't want to deal with it. Because God's word has power in it. And if we question whether or not God's word is able to do

things, I would take you over to the book of Isaiah. Matter of fact, turn with me real quick to the book of Isaiah. Go to Isaiah 55. It's in the Old Testament, middle of the Old Testament, after the Psalms. You're turning to your left and you hit the Psalms. You've gone too far. Isaiah 55. And I want you to look down at verse... Verse 8. Isaiah 55, starting in verse 8. It says this,

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed, to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Ryan, how does God's word have that kind of supernatural power?

I have no idea. I don't understand it either. Because as the heavens are higher than the earth, his ways are above my ways and his thoughts are above my thoughts. I just know that when God's word goes out, it always does. That's what he sends it out to do. It never returns void. And nothing makes me happier when I see God's word bring back amazing fruit in the lives of people.

And so he says, the first thing that we see, back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, the first thing that we see in the fruitfulness of the minister is that they received the word. The second thing we see is that they endured suffering. They endured suffering. He says in verse 14, For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Jerusalem. And so he says, the first thing that we see in the fruitfulness of the minister is that they

endured suffering. They endured suffering. They endured suffering. They endured suffering. For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but they are hostile to men. He says, you became imitators of the churches in Judea

in the way that you endured suffering. You see, the churches in Judea had been enduring suffering from the same people that the Thessalonians were enduring it from. They endured suffering from their own countrymen because they didn't like the message of the gospel. Therefore, they brought persecution upon the churches. And he says, now you look just like them because now

you're suffering at the hands of your own countrymen. Or can we also say your neighbors? You endured suffering at the hands of your own countrymen, just like them. And you have endured it well. For the second time now in this book of 1 Thessalonians, we come across the aspect of suffering, in particular in the area of persecution. And I think it's always good for

us to remember that while we have been blessed with massive freedoms in the United States of America, the times, they are changing, right? And so we don't know what's going to come down the pike. We don't know how things are going to work out, but we should always be prepared. We should always be prepared for whatever comes next. Everybody's scared that we're going to lose our rights. And

I'm just like, I mean, maybe, maybe that's going to happen. Like, what happens if one day they say we can't be a church anymore? Well, that's why we have small groups in case that does happen. You guys can still meet and gather and study God's word together. Coming, I have no idea, but we should be ready in case it is. We should be willing to endure persecution. We should be willing to endure the suffering. But you see, we can't do that in

ourselves. In and of myself, I run from suffering. I still do it today, right? I run from anything that's going to be hard, which is why sometimes I choose not to run that day because it's going to be hard, right? And so I don't like suffering. I don't like for things to be hard. But one of the fruits that God produces in our lives is the ability to stand in the midst of persecution,

to hold up under suffering. And he says, you have that fruit produced in your life that you endured that suffering. And as they endured the suffering, they started looking just like the other churches around them. And he says, you endured suffering from these people just like they did. But notice what he says is going to happen to those who have been doing the persecuting. Verse 16, hindering us

from speaking the gospel to the Gentiles so that they may be saved with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins, but wrath has come upon them to the utmost. You see, God has a way of dealing with those who do the persecuting. We stand up under it. We let God handle the vengeance. And so as we look, we see that as ministers, we are to be diligent in our

work and our walk in our ministry. We are to be fruitful. And that fruit is the way that we receive the word and the enduring of the suffering. But number three, care. As ministers, we should care. Notice what it says in verse 17. I've been taken away from you for a short while in person, not in spirit. We're 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 hindered us. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? For you are our glory and joy. As ministers, we need to care. When I wrestled at the beginning of every season, we had to sign a little contract with Coach Wayne Jackson. And we had to sign saying that we would follow the rules of bulldog wrestling. And the

number one rule of bulldog wrestling is you have to care. As a matter of fact, he always said, if you're going to be a bulldog wrestler, you got to care. If you don't care, go play basketball. Sorry, basketball players. I love you guys. That was his thing. You had to care. Because if you cared to do a sport that's as hard as wrestling, that means you're going to start putting your

teammates above yourself. You're going to care about the people that you're going to care about. The team. You're going to care about winning. You're going to care about doing all of the things it requires. All of the sacrifices it requires to be a wrestler. Well, as ministers, we're to care too. Only not about winning a crown. Our care is to be about people. You see, Paul was accused of

not caring about the people because he had to depart Thessalonica so quickly. He was accused of not really caring about the church because he had to depart Thessalonica. But he said, you don't understand how hard that was for us. You don't understand how hard it was for us to leave. He said, but we, brethren, having been taken away. That's a really powerful word in the Greek,

that phrase taken away. In the Greek, that phrase taken away speaks of a child that is bereaved of its parent. That's the power of what he's saying of how much he cared. He said, when we had to leave you, our hearts were ripped out. It was as if we were a child whose parent was gone. That's how much it hurt to leave. You know why it hurt him to leave? Because the Thessalonican church had

become like his family. Because that's what we are supposed to be. We are supposed to be family. And there is a bond in the body of Christ. And I know I talk about this a lot, but I don't think you can talk about it too much. There is a bond in the body of Christ that goes deeper than any other bond that we will ever have. You see, the problem in the Western culture church, and

sometimes the problem right here, not just every other church, but the problem right here is we find our commonality and our common bond in our hobbies. Well, you see, we're a bunch of people together. And so if you don't like to work on cars, you probably won't fit in with the rest of us. Well, we're the homeschooling group. And so if you don't homeschool your kids, you probably won't

fit in with the rest of us. Well, we're the public schooling group. So we public school, we send our kids to public school. So you probably won't fit in with us. Well, we're the hunters. We're the fishermen. We're the this. Listen, stop it. You're not all those different groups. And as soon as we start making all those different groups, we don't understand what Paul's talking about when he says,

brethren, when we were taken away, it felt like a mother being torn away from her child. Because all you care about is your group. And that's not what we're supposed to be. I'm reading a book right now. It's called Jesus Culture or a Jesus Centered Church by Matt Chandler. And he was talking about this. And he says, sometimes we can get so into our groups and church that it almost becomes sin. Because we care

more about the bond that we have with our group than we do the bond that we have because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Because you see, the bond that we have because of the blood of Jesus Christ, goes so much deeper than physical blood. Because physical blood will carry us to this side of eternity. The blood of Jesus Christ is a bond that carries us beyond eternity. And that's who we

are. And that's why we're supposed to care about each other. Because at the end of the day, the people sitting next to you, the person sitting down the row from you, the person sitting in your section, they're your family. You say, I don't even know. I don't even know their name. Today is the day find out their name. Write it down. Find it out. Tell them where you are so that they can

walk with you. So today is the day to find out their name. Write it down. Write it down. Find it out. For if you need to. But you've got to start being family with each other. We got to break down walls of groups. We got to break down walls of cliques. We've got to quit being the we're this group and we're this group. Listen, if there's people that you don't talk to because they're

not a part of your group, shame on you. Because you're supposed to care about each other no matter what group you're a part of. That's who we are as the body. Paul says, when we were taken away from you, it was like a mother being torn away from her child. He says, and we wanted to come back. And even though we weren't there in body, we were absolutely there in spirit, but we were not

allowed to go back because, verse 18, Satan hindered us. Paul said, we wanted to come back and see you guys as much as we possibly could. But the fact of the matter is Satan hindered us. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know what Satan did to hinder them. He doesn't go into detail about it. But somehow Satan kept him from going back to Thessalonica, probably because of

persecution. But he kept him from going back. But his heart was still there. His heart was still with them because he was bonded to them through the blood of Jesus Christ. And he says, verse 19, for who is our hope or joy or crown of exaltation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? He says, you know what our greatest crown of exaltation is? Our greatest joy is you. The crown that he refers to

there is the crown of joy. And he says, you know what our greatest crown of exaltation is? Our greatest joy is you. The crown that he refers to there is the laurel wreath. That when you competed in the games, the Olympic games, you won, instead of a gold medal, you won this laurel wreath. But essentially what he says is, you are our gold medal. And what does he mean by that? He means

their faithfulness in their walk with Jesus Christ was his absolute greatest joy and glory. And I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, as the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Arc City, I would trade everything else in the world to know that all of you had a really strong walk with Jesus Christ. And I was going to see all of you. And I was going to see all of you. And I was

going to see all of you. And I was going to see all of you. And I was going to see all of you. And I could look at Jesus and say, these are the people you gave me. And I've given them everything that I can so that they can be as close to you as possible. Because that's the crown of joy that I have in my life. And that's what Paul says too. You don't have a church to do that with, but you

have a family to do that with. You have friends that you can do that with. You have your Bible study group that you can do that with. That you can say, my hope and joy is that they love you with all of their heart. So that I can do that with you. And I can say, my hope and joy is that I can present you at his second coming. Notice where he says, is it not even, end of verse 19,

is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming? Remember how we said that every chapter in the book of 1 Thessalonians ends with some sort of a reference to the coming of Christ? Well, this is the reference in chapter two, is that at his coming, he would be able to present a church that is blameless. A church that is focused on him. Because Jesus is

coming again. And I don't think we can overstate this. I don't think it can be stated enough that Jesus is coming again. All of the things that we're seeing happening in the world right now, all indicate the fact that the rapture is coming anytime. And I absolutely wholeheartedly believe in the rapture of the church. That's my eschatology, is I believe that there is coming a

time when we shall not all sleep, but when the last trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain will meet the Lord in the air. That's actually later in 1 Thessalonians. We're going to get there. And when that takes place, there will then be a seven-year tribulation that will take place on this earth. A time when God will pour out his

wrath on an unbelieving world, so much so that if it's not held back, the entire world will be destroyed. And at the end of that seven-year period, he will come down with us following him. He will come to earth, and he will establish a rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years. Brothers and sisters, that was Paul's hope. That's what he was looking forward to. That's

what he was focused on, and that's what we need to be focused on. It's the second coming of Christ, that we have a hope beyond this place. And if we have a hope beyond this place, then while we're here, we should wear out as ministers in our boldness for Jesus Christ, in our integrity in the way that we walk, in our gentleness with those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, with our diligence in the way that we live our lives, in the way that we work and witness for others. I just forgot the fifth one.

With our fruitfulness, of course, with how much we care about people and how much you care about each other. Brothers and sisters, we're family. Let's minister. Let's reach the world that is around us. Amen. Well, it's Communion Sunday, and there is a whole herd of children out there, so unleash the hounds. If you could keep an eye on the door as your kids come through so that

they can find you. Otherwise, one of them will roam the sanctuary three times. All right. I'm going to go and invite the worship team to come on up. This morning is Communion Sunday, and so we always partake together of this meal, but I always like to take a few minutes to talk about what this means. Inside of each of these trays, as always, there's a couple of cups stacked

together. The top cup has the juice in it, and the bottom cup has the cracker in it. And as far as the world is concerned, it's the saddest snack you've ever eaten in your entire life. But we know that there's great meaning behind the partaking in this meal. On that last great night of the feast, Jesus took the bread. And as we have described before, the bread was unleavened matzo bread. And he took that piece of like a giant cracker,

and he broke it. And it was kind of fascinating to pay attention to what that bread is, because that bread was, first of all, unleavened. We know that leaven throughout Scripture is always a picture of sin. So if you will, that bread was pure. It was sinless. But then that bread was also pierced. There's all these little holes all over it because of the way that they made it.

And then that bread was striped. And it's interesting to pay attention to that, because as Jesus took that bread that was pure and pierced and striped, he said, this is my body, which was pure and would be pierced and would be striped. And he broke it. He said, take and eat. As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. And so we remember that this cracker represents the body of Jesus Christ that was broken for us.

And then he took the last cup. The last cup was always called the cup, of redemption. And he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood that is shed for you. Take and drink. And as often as we do this, we're told we declare the death of Jesus Christ. And so we're told to make sure that we do this in a worthy manner. And I think that means a handful of things. First of all, it means we really understand what we're doing, that this

is declaring the death, that it's declaring that the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed us of our sins and that by his stripes, we are healed, that his body was broken for us. And so to take this serious as to what we're doing. But the second way that we need to make sure that we partake in a worthy manner is if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, this won't mean anything to you. As a matter of fact, scripture gives warnings that if you're not a believer, perhaps you should just not partake in it. But there's always a quick way

to deal with that. As we have been talking about the truth of who Jesus is, maybe today is the day that Jesus is going to come. And so we're told to make sure that we do this in a worthy manner. This is calling you to put your faith in him. And it's as simple as you coming to Jesus, confessing your sin and accepting the work that he did for you on the cross, the work that we

are declaring today. Then you can be a part of the family and it'll make sense to you. And then the other way that we partake in a worthy manner is we know that we don't go through a week, a month, a day without somehow falling short of the glory of God. And while that sin as believers does not cause us to sin, it does not cause us to sin. And so we're told to make sure that we

cause us to lose our salvation. It does separate fellowship. And the only way that we can restore that fellowship is through confession. And so as the worship team plays this last song, the ushers will come down and they'll hand out the elements. Take time to allow God to search your heart, to see if there's things that need dealt with between you and him, to see if there's

things that you need to handle in your life and to really get your heart focused on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And so as you receive your elements, if you would please stand and we will all partake together. Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you. And Lord, I thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for us. Father, I thank you for his body that was broken.

Lord, that you endured the beating. Lord, that you endured the nails, the crown of thorns, and the spear in your side. Lord, that you were wounded for our transgressions. You were bruised for our iniquities, that the chastisement of our peace was laid upon you and that by your stripes were healed. Father, we thank you for the body of Christ broken for us. Father, we thank you

for the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us. Lord, your word says that without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. And so, Lord, I thank you that you have provided the blood of Jesus Christ that is enough to cover all of our sins, that allowed us, Lord, access boldly to the throne of grace. Father, thank you for the sacrifice of Jesus. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Let's partake. If you'd bow with me one more time. Father, we come before you and thank you for the time that we've had here this morning. For time in your word, for time to fellowship, for time just to be together as your body, for time to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ that gives us brand new life. So, Father, be with us as we go out from here. And Lord, may your word

continue to sink deeply into our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen. If you're interested in going to Georgia, go see Rob. In the agape room.