Stand Firm

The things that go on draw us to you, to trust you, to serve you day by day, confessing our sins when necessary, agreeing with you that we've sinned, looking to you to guide us through all that and to be strengthened and to experientially have that knowledge. I was wrong, each was far too wide, so great divine, left behind, heavens throw my chain, first time my new glow has no sting, and life by the blood of sinners saved by slaves to sin. In this world, never stop working, never stop, never stop working, even when, never stop, never stop working, never stop. Never stop working, never stop, never stop working, even when, never stop, never stop.

Where we could use some servants right now, so if you would like to get plugged in with serving here at the church and you've been here about six months or so, we'd love to talk to you about that. So come talk to me afterwards and I will get you pointed in the right direction. And then also today is Sanctity of Life Sunday. I was not able to get the ladies from Family Life Services to come share today because they were at a different church today, but they will be sharing next week.

But Sanctity of Life Sunday is always set aside for this Sunday. Every year, just to bring about awareness that we still deal with this issue in the world, that we still deal with the issue of abortion. And we bring this up so that we can be praying, praying for the young mothers who are having to make decisions right now, that they would be pointed in the right direction, that they would receive good and godly counsel. Pray for the unborn and pray for those mothers who have at some point in time made a loss.

Life-altering decision, and now they're dealing with the consequences of that. And that God would bring the healing that they need in their lives. So that's what we remember today, so may it be a day where you take some time to pray for those things. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139.

We're looking at the New American Standard for this part, just so that we all sound the same. If you need a copy, it should be one in a row around you.

And as you are turning to Psalm 139, 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 139, for the choir director, a psalm of David. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thoughts. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

You have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. It's too high. I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your presence? To heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me.

If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. For you formed me. You formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I awake, I am still with you. O that you would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them. And with utmost hatred, they have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. And Father, we thank you for who you are, and Lord, how well you know us, that you have formed us, that you have known us, and Lord, that you care for us in ways that we don't even always understand. And so, Lord, as we take time to be in your word this morning, I pray that you would speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

And Father, as we do take this time to remember the unborn this morning, I lift up those moms who are facing hard decisions right now. And Lord, I pray that you would give them your grace, Lord, to choose life. And Father, I lift up the fathers that need to step up and support these moms. And Lord, I pray that they would become men of God. And Lord, I lift up the moms who are dealing with the guilt of decisions made in the past.

And pray, God, that they would... Put that under the blood of Jesus Christ, and that they would know and understand that there is restoration and redemption in you. And Father, we just praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. The end of chapter 2 still gives us instructions, but they're sort of in light of what he just told us about this man. Flawlessness. Remember, 2 Thessalonians was written because of the difficulties that the Thessalonian believers were going through, because of the hardship that they were facing.

And so it's really a book of not only instruction, because they needed to know that they hadn't missed it. They needed to know and understand eschatology. They needed to understand end times. They needed to understand what the day of the Lord really looked like, and that there would be signs that would accompany it that we really wouldn't have to see. And so...

If we're not seeing those signs, we're not living in the day of the Lord. But at the end of the day, it was written to encourage them. And it was written to comfort them, and it was written to strengthen them. And so as Paul finishes chapter 2, to give them instructions, he gives them one final instruction, and really a final word before he gets into some final exhortations here.

And he tells them to stand firm. And so the title of the message this morning is simply, Stand Firm. And so I would like to pick up in chapter 2, verse 13, It says, It says, And so there's three things I'd like to point out to you in this exhortation to stand firm, this instruction to stand firm that he gives to us. He's going to tell us our position. He's going to give us the command.

And then he's going to talk to us about God's comfort. Before he gets into any sort of, this is what you need to do, he reminds them of their position in Christ. And this is what he says. He starts off by saying, But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord. Now, the segue into that is that he said that there will be some who will give in to strong delusion because they loved wickedness rather than truth.

Therefore, they were given over. They were given over to that which is false, which is why he now says, But we should always give thanks to God for you. Why? Because they are not the ones who have given in to falsehood. Because they are not the ones who love wickedness more than truth. They are not the ones who are going to fall prey to this strong delusion because they

are brethren. He says, But we always ought to give thanks to God for you, brethren. I think it was the New Living Translation that translated this in the most fascinating way possible. It says, But we should always give thanks to God for you, my family. And I love that translation of that because sometimes that word brethren, while it meant a lot at the time that it was written, we don't always think too much about the tenderhearted

nature of that phrase or of that word. But it's a very tenderhearted word because it speaks of them being family. As a matter of fact, I looked it up and it talks about brothers that are related by blood or brothers that are bonded together. And that's the idea of what he presents here when he says, We always ought to thank God for you, my family. And I point that out because I like to remind us all that when you show up to church on

Sunday morning, you're not just showing up to a social gathering with a lot of other people that think the same way that you do, right? You're not showing up to a club meeting because you all joined the same club. This is a family reunion every time we get together because the people sitting next to you, if they are believers in Jesus Christ, are not just other people that happen to attend the same church as you. They are your family.

And the bond that you have with that individual goes deeper than physical blood because it is a spiritual blood that ties us together, not just on this side of eternity, but on the other side of eternity. And I point that out because I always want us to remember that that's who we are. We're family. And if we view each other as family, then it changes the connection that we have to each other on a consistent basis.

Because sometimes if we don't view each other as family, then we become this discontinuous, disconnected sort of group of people that meet together on a Sunday morning and then never talk to each other the entire rest of the week. That's the biggest problem that we have of having two services here, is that there are people that go to second service that don't know some of you exist. They don't know some of you go to our church. And if you ran into them in Dillon's and they said, so where have you been going to church?

And you say Calvary Chapel, they'd say, son of a gun, me too. I've never seen you there. Well, it's because you go to a different service than they do. That's the biggest problem that we run into with this. That's the biggest problem. It has to happen this way, but it is what it is. But we are intended to be connected as family together. And so like I have told you over and over again, I love that some of you have done this.

Do you remember when we went through the section on being the church, what it looks like to be a part of the church? And I said, you know, part of being in the church is getting to know each other. And that means that sometimes you may have to sit in a different spot every Sunday. And some of you have done that. And I love it. I can't locate half of you half the time now.

Like I used to know exactly where everybody sat all the time. And I could be like, oh, that's me. Oh, there's where they know that they're over here now. And it's great because maybe you're getting to know new people. Maybe you're getting to know the other folks that are in the church, because that's what God has intended for us to do in being family. And so Paul says, we ought to give thanks to you to God because you are our brother.

And the second reason why he gives thanks for them is because they are beloved of God. They are beloved of God, in other words, because God loves you. It's one of the most basic tenets of Scripture, and yet one of the most important tenets of Scripture that we can always hold on to. Because all over the pages of all of Scripture is basically written one message, that God loves you.

And because of his great love that he has for you, he saw fit to make you a part of his family through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and by raising him from the dead. And all of Scripture can be tied up in this one little phrase. God loves you. And it's one of the things that you can never outgrow. It's one of the things that you can never outlearn.

It's one of the things that you can never plumb the depths of, and that's the deep love of God. As a matter of fact, one of the great Bible teachers of all time, his name was Alan Redpath. Alan Redpath sat in a meeting of a bunch of future pastors at a seminary, and they did a Q&A. And during this Q&A, one of the, one of these young men raised his hand and said, what is the most important part of Scripture that you have ever learned in your entire time of study?

And he sat back and he thought about it. He looked at him and he said, this is the most important thing I've ever learned. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. And that's one of the greatest Bible teachers of all time, who said that theologically, that's one of the greatest things that he's learned. And you can't outgrow it. And Paul says, I'm so thankful for you because you're my family, but also you are beloved

of God. Lavish, he has showered us with the great love that he has for us. You are beloved of God. He said, but we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of God, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation. You see, part of your position in Christ is that God has chosen you. Now, some people have a really hard time with this because they think if God has chosen

you, then maybe he hasn't chosen other people. That if God has chosen you for salvation, that he must also have chosen people for hell. I really don't see that in scripture. I don't see that in any of the scriptures that I read. There are some that try to bring up some arguments, but in my opinion, it's a poor handling of God's word. No, you can just rest in the fact that God has chosen you.

And I've used this analogy before, but I don't know if you notice this about me, but I'm not the biggest guy on the face of the earth and I'm really not that tall. I know it's shocking to you right now to hear that. But when we played basketball as kids, I was always chosen last. Shocking, I know, but it's, you know, they were just like, well, I guess we'll take the short guy, right?

And so I was always chosen last. So it's pretty cool to think that God chose me, that out of everybody, God was like, I choose you. Right? I think it was C. H. Spurgeon that said, I don't have a hard time believing that God chooses. I have a hard time believing that God chose me. Amen. That's one of the hard things for us to take in is that God chose you. And so you can, if you're a born again believer here this morning, you can know and understand

a truth in your life. And that's that you are divinely elected by God. You were chosen by God to be one of his kids before the foundations of the earth. I read a quote again the other day, and I do not remember who said it, but he said, it's a good thing God chose me before the foundations of the earth, because if it had happened after I was born, he might've decided not to.

And that's a true statement. That's a true statement. Right? Like if, if maybe if after I'd, you know, lived a few years in life, God was like, maybe not him. Right? Gabriel's like, he seems like a bad choice. I'm feeling you on that, Gabe. Right? No, that's not true at all. But he chose you before the foundations of the world and you've been chosen in him.

And what have you been chosen for? You've been chosen for salvation. You have been chosen to be set free from sin and made a part of the family of God. It says, We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. Through sanctification by the Spirit.

What does that mean? Well, usually when we think of the word sanctification, we think about the process of becoming like Jesus. And that's one aspect of the word sanctification that's used. But that's not the idea that it's used in here. That's not the idea of the word sanctification here. The idea of the word sanctification means set apart for holy use. And so this is what he means when he says through sanctification by the Holy Spirit.

That's that the Holy Spirit had set you apart for salvation because God had chosen you. You know what that means? It means as believers in Jesus Christ, we can look back on our lives, right? And we can look back on everything that brought us to know Jesus and we can go, wow, God was at work that entire time, right? And we can look at that and we can see how God was at work, getting us in the right place,

putting the right people in our place. Getting the right message in our face. God was at work in all of that because that was the separating work of the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I think one of the cool things for us to do is to go back and look at how God did that for us. Is to look back and go, oh my gosh, God was at work this entire time, right? God was at work through all of this thing, all of these things.

I got to know my wife shortly after she got saved. I mean, she was a brand new baby Christian when I met her. She'd been saved a month when I met her. We weren't dating at the time. We were just friends and a part of the same Bible study. But it was fascinating to watch her look back on her life in those first couple of years and go, that was God. That was God at work in my life.

And I don't think I realized it at the time. But she could look back and see how the Holy Spirit was setting her apart unto Himself. I can do the same thing in my life. You can probably do the same thing in your life. If you're here this morning and you've never really accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this is a part of what God is doing to set you apart.

This is a part of what God is doing to set you apart unto Himself. You have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. But then came the part that we do, and that's that you came to faith in the truth. But we always should give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of God, because God chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

In John chapter 6, Jesus had just fed the 5,000. He said to the multitudes, and they say, what must we do to work the works of God? And you know what Jesus replied? He said, to work the works of God, you must believe on Him whom He has sent, indicating Himself. That is the work of God. The work of God is faith. The work of God is putting our faith in the truth.

And once we have put our faith in the truth, it will begin to produce works in our life. Because what you believe affects the way that you live. But the ultimate work is putting our faith in Jesus Christ, and that's salvation. Salvation is that the Holy Spirit set you apart unto Himself. You just believed what He told you. The Holy Spirit set you apart for what He wanted to do in your life in the work of salvation.

You believed the message of the gospel. And that's your position in Christ. You are loved by God. You are chosen by God. You were set apart by God. And you just believed the work that He did. That's who you are in Christ. And it doesn't end there. Notice what he says. Verse 14. It was for this, meaning salvation, that He called you through our gospel, that you

may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was for this, this salvation that God called you through the gospel, so that you could gain the glory of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Well, first of all, that glory brings us a great deal of hope, right? Because in Romans... As a matter of fact, I had to put this up there. In the margin of your Bible, you might write Romans 8, verse 18.

Romans 8, verse 18. Because Romans 8, verse 18 says, I am convinced that the sufferings of this present life do not compare with the glory which is to come. Because that's what we're looking forward to. We were saved so that one day we could be glorified. And what we deal with in this life is nothing compared to the glory. That is to come. And then, of course, in 1 John, chapter 3, verse 2, it says, brethren, now we are the

children of God, and even though it's not yet been revealed what we shall be, we know that when we see Him, we will be like Him in His glory, because we will see Him as He truly is, and He who has His hope purifies Himself. That's the glory that we're looking forward to, is that one day we'll leave all of the suffering of this world. One day we'll leave all of this earth behind. One day we will leave all of this garbage of the earth behind, and we will be in a glorified body that will no longer be subject to the things of this world, because the sharing of the glory of Jesus Christ, not the sharing of the deity of Jesus Christ, but the sharing of the glory of Jesus Christ, is what we're looking forward to.

And that's the hope that we have. And that's the position that we are in. You are loved by God. You are chosen by God. You are sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You have believed in the gospel, and you are waiting for your glorification. That's who you are. Again, remember, he is telling this to the Thessalonian people who were facing affliction and persecution so deep that they thought they were living in the judgment of God.

And he tells them, I'm thankful for you, because you are loved by God, because you are chosen by God, because you've been set apart by God, because you've been saved by God, and because one day you will be glorified with Christ. And I'm so thankful for you, because that's who you are. You may be dealing with some hard things right now, but you are so favored by God. And after he tells them about their position in Christ, he tells them what they need to do.

He gives them the command. He says, so then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. He gives them two things that they need to do. Number one, stand firm. Stand firm. That phrase, stand firm, means to keep a firm standing. Think of it this way. Think of a hedgerow, right? We know about hedgerows here in Kansas.

Think of a hedgerow that just went through all of the winds that we've had just this past couple of days, right, as it was blowing negative 97-degree air at us, right? Think about that hedgerow of trees. That hedgerow of trees that you've been driving by your entire life, and all of those trees are still standing. They're not standing always real pretty. Sometimes they lean a little to the left, right, or a little to the right, or a little

to the south, or a little to the north, whichever direction. They're leaning a little bit, whichever direction the wind's been blowing the hardest. But listen, they stand firm. Why? Because their roots go deep. That's the idea of what he tells us that we need to be. Jesus gave us this same kind of idea. You know, when he said, he who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken

unto a man who has built his house upon a rock, because the man who has built his house upon a rock, the winds blew, the storms came, and the rain fell and beat upon the house, but the house stood because the foundation was firm. It stood firm in the midst of everything that was going on. Again, they're facing affliction, and they're facing persecution, and there's a great deal of fear that's gone along with that, and so he says, you belong to Jesus. You were chosen by Jesus.

You've been saved by Jesus, and you have the hope of being glorified with Jesus, so don't give up now. Stand firm. Well, as always, I start asking myself, what does he mean by that? What does it look like to stand firm? And so I wrote a handful of things down, and I absolutely forgot to highlight these, so you have to listen close and take some notes, okay?

There's not even TikTok anymore, so you can't be distracted. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be distracted, so take some notes. Number one, we need to stand firm in who we are in Christ. Stand firm in who you are in Christ. That position that we just talked about, you need to decide every day that if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, that's not who you hope you are someday.

It's who you are now. It's who you are, and when the enemy comes in and lies to you, or when your feelings try to deceive you, or when everything is going wrong around you, and you think, Lord, have you disappeared? Has it stopped being true? No. The truth still remains, because who you are in Christ is settled, and every day you need to remind yourself of that.

Every day you need to remind yourself of who you really are and that that won't change, that you are a child of God, and that's not going to change no matter what's going on in your life. So number one, we need to stand firm in who we are in Christ. Number two, we need to stand firm in spite of what we're going through. We're going to be a child of God. of the hardship that you're facing. Stand firm in spite of the hardship that you're facing.

It's easy to stand strong when everything's going great, right? It is easy to stand up and be like, God is so good when all of the bills are paid, and no one's sick, and the truck's paid off, and you've almost got the house paid off, and work is the greatest place you've ever been in your entire life, and the kids have done everything that you've told them to do. Their rooms are clean. Life is perfect. And then there's the other 365 days of the year,

because that was a leap year, right? And you have to stand firm in spite of all of the hardships around you, because what makes a hedgerow so strong is that it stands firm through the storm. Its roots go deep, even when it's hard. I've shared this before, but I took some turf classes at one point in time when I thought maybe I was going to go into that as like a side job. And one of the things that you learn is the

importance of the root system of turf, right? I'm sorry, I geek this stuff. Don't make fun of me too much. You can make fun of me later. But there's an exponential growth from the underneath side of the turf to the top side of the turf. And whatever you see sticking up on top, it goes that much deeper down below. And when you get up on top of the turf, it goes that much deeper down below.

And when you get out into like western Kansas, out into the plains, all of that prairie grass that you see, they've done some tests, they've done some digs, and you know that some of those roots go six to ten foot down into the ground, because it's dry, because it's hard, and it's Kansas, right? And the only way that prairie grass stays there, if it's got roots that go really, really deep. Well, that's what we have to do. We have to stand firm in spite of all of the hardship in our life. Listen, I know some of y'all are going through

some stuff. I know some of y'all got hardship in your life. And I'm here to tell you right now, now's not the time to give up. Now's the time to press in. Stand firm, even in the midst of hardship. Number three, stand firm because God will bring relief and retribution. Stand firm because God will bring relief and retribution. Do you remember that Paul told them that in the

very beginning of the book? He said, you guys are dealing with a lot of affliction and a lot of persecution. But it's okay, because God is just, and he will bring you relief, temporary relief sometimes now, but relief eternally in the future. And he will also bring retribution. Because sometimes the affliction that you deal with is just the general things of life, right? But sometimes

the affliction that you deal with is because of the people you're around, and they treat you like garbage, right? And they're treating you bad, and you're like, Lord, how long am I going to endure under this kind of treatment? Don't worry. God's going to take care of that for you, because he knows how to give relief, and he knows how to bring retribution. Because everything that's

happening to you, God sees it, and God deals with it. And when we let God deal with stuff, he's way better at dealing with it than we are, right? And so, we stand firm because God will bring relief and retribution. Number, I lettered these, one, two, three, four. Stand firm, number four, because the spirit of deception is already at work. Stand firm because the spirit of deception is already at work.

The spirit of deception is already at work. And I think that's important for us to pay attention to, because Paul said that that spirit of lawlessness was already at work 2,000 years ago, and I'm pretty sure it's working a little bit better today. It's gaining momentum today, it feels like. God still wins. Don't worry about that. But the spirit of deception is already at work, so you've got to

hold tight to the truth. You've got to hold tight to the truth of God's word. And then number five, stand firm because your sufferings now are not worthy of you. Stand firm because your sufferings now are not worthy of you. Stand firm because your sufferings now are not worthy of you. Do not compare to the glory that is to come. What we have waiting for us is so much more. What we have waiting for us is so much better.

So stand firm now. So number one, he says to stand firm. The second thing he says to do is to hold to the traditions which you were taught. Hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. Now before we get to this command, I want to deal with the word traditions here really quickly because this verse has caused some false doctrine and caused

people to say, well, I know that the Bible says this, but tradition says this, and so we're going to stick with tradition. And there's actually an entire church movement that's existed since about the middle 500s or so that still exists today. And I want to talk to you about that. I want to talk to you about that. I want to talk about that. But the problem is, that's not what Paul's

saying here. See, traditions are okay. There's nothing wrong with them. We have traditions in this church, and there's nothing wrong with that. You probably have family traditions. There's nothing wrong with those things, but we do have to beware of certain aspects of traditions. As a matter of fact, there's two types of traditions we need to be aware of. We need to beware of religious traditions. And how do I know that? Well, because I've

read the Gospels. The Gospels. constantly upset with the Pharisees about well you see they put their traditions above God's Word they started teaching and I'm quoting Jesus here they started teaching the traditions of man as being greater than the law of God and that's a problem when religious traditions usurp God's Word we have to be careful about that because God is not going to violate his word God is not going to in one instance say this and then bring about a tradition through a man that says this it's not going to go against each other so we always have to hold up what God's Word has to say the second type of tradition that we have to be aware of is we have to be aware of man's traditions as a matter of fact in

Colossians chapter 1 verse 8 Paul says I don't want you to be taken captive by empty philosophy or deception or traditions of man so it to beware of these things so what do we do well I don't want you to be taken captive by empty philosophy or deception or deception or the�� moral promise in this passage Principles verse 3 he took the heart open in His name and you can find that verse pretty easy because if you're taken captive by open eyes you have Torah you have books of chapter 4 we're going to Admonish them it's pretty easy to read right and you could report them well you could report them for a haphazard or mist짝 you could report these places that you were taught that always line up with scripture. So that's the idea of the traditions

that he holds up here. So when we look at our traditions, we have to ask, does it line up with scripture? Then we keep it. But if it violates scripture, we have to throw it to the side because all of our traditions have to line up with what God has to say. But what he's speaking of here is true teaching of God's word. So let's look at it that way. We need to hold fast to the

teaching of God's word. That word hold fast, or that phrase means to maintain a tight grip, to maintain a tight grip. And that's what we have to do with what God's word has to say. It goes very much along with the idea of standing firm, but you have to hold on to God's word with an incredibly tight grip. Because listen, the enemy's trying to rip it out of our hands every time we turn around. What was the very first temptation that the enemy

brought to Eve? Dead. God say. It's what he always does. He's always going to get you to try to question God's word, whether it's in really big ways, like who God is or what salvation really looks like, or in really small ways, like is that really sin? Did God really mean it when he said that this is sin? He's always going to get us to question God's word. So we have to hold tight to God's word.

How are you going to hold tight to the traditions of God's word? Well, you'd better know what they say. Because you can't hold tight to something that you don't know. You can't hold tight to something that you don't know is there. You have to start building that understanding of God's word in your mind. And I've talked about this a lot with just about everybody I've talked to this week. We talked about it at men's study yesterday. We talked

about it in both of my FCA groups. And I talked about it Wednesday night. You have to know what God's word has to say. And you know what the biggest struggle we have with what God's word has to say? Sometimes it's really hard to understand. Right? I sat down with a group of college kids the other night, and I said, so what do you guys want to see happen in your lives this year? And they're all like, we want to grow in our

knowledge of the word, but we're really having a hard time. And so I'm going to teach them how to study the word tonight. We're going to start going through a series about how to do that. Because they didn't know how to do that for themselves. Because God's word sometimes can be really hard to understand. We talked about this at men's breakfast yesterday. God's word

is a little bit of an acquired taste. Can we all agree with that? That when you first get into it, ooh, that's different. That it's different to what I would normally think. It's different than what I would normally say. Because it's dealing with issues in our lives. It's kind of like going to the gym. Right? If you haven't been to the gym for a really long time, and you're like, 2025,

I'm going to start working out. Right? And the first week you go to the gym, you're like, I'm going to die. I hate this. My body hurts. My lungs hurt. Everything hurts. And if that's what you do the first week, and you don't decide to continue going to the gym, you're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die. You're going to die.

You're going to die. You're going to die. You'll never go back. And anytime you try to go to the gym, that will be the response that you have. But if you commit and say, I'm going to do this for this long, then eventually, yeah, it's still hard, but not as hard as it was that first week. Because it's an acquired taste. And actually, if you're a freak like me, you actually start to kind

of crave it. Because when you sit and study all morning long, you're like, oh my gosh, I have got to go do something active and work out some of the things going on in my head right now. Well, that's kind of the way that God's word is for us. Right? When we first get into it, we're like, oh my gosh, I'm going to die. I don't even understand what he's saying. And then you start

to get into it, and your flesh is willing to be put to death. And you go, oh, that's so good. And you start to crave what God's word has to say. Because eventually, you're like, that's the only way I can work out some of these things in my head. So if we're going to hold tight to the traditions, if we're going to hold tight to the teaching of God's word, you better know what it

says. You better have a good basic understanding of what it says. That's why for the second year in a row, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I've put the reading plan in the Bible. Do as much of it or as little of it as you want to. Just be in it every day. Because as you acquire that taste, it will become your greatest pleasure.

It will be the thing that you crave the most. Right? But as I was listening to some teaching on this last night by Lloyd Pulley, he pointed something out. He said, you know, here's the thing about holding fast to the traditions. The idea of what he says here, of holding fast, of having a firm grip on, doesn't just carry with it the idea of knowing, although it does carry that idea with it, it also carries with it the idea of the fact that

it has to change you. You can't just know what God's word has to say and hold fast to it. God's word has to begin to take an effect in your life. That's holding fast to it. Because if God's word never takes an effect in your life, then it's doing you no good. And you're really not holding fast. You're really just gaining a little bit of knowledge that has no change in your lives.

And I'm here to tell you right now, the world around us, the kids in your house, they don't want to hear as much what you have to say as much as what you do. We had this conversation in men's study yesterday too. Somebody said, so what's more important, especially in dealing with your kids, what's more important, the words that you say or the actions that you do? And I said, yes.

And a couple of the guys that have a little bit more experience in life than me said, we agree. Yes. Because the words that you say are important. You've got to know what God's word has to say. And you've got to speak that into your own life, into the lives of the people around you, especially into the lives of your kids. But you also have to live it out. Because if your kids,

if the people around you hear you quote God's word all the time, but never see your life quote God's word, then those words do you no good. If you're always talking about how good God is and how great he is, and then you're unleashing a tirade of expletives that all of your co-workers and your kids hear. They're going to go, I don't think he really means it when he says he loves God. If you act like a jerk to everybody around you, eventually people are going to say, I don't think he really means it when he says he loves God.

But also when people see your actions, it should be reinforced with the words that you speak. Because eventually you should be able to speak that truth into people's lives. I said, you know, there were two men sitting at that table, my dad and Alan Brooke. And I said, these guys will tell you that I didn't always listen to what they had to say in the beginning.

But I listened to their words and I watched their lives. And I saw that the words that they spoke and the lives that they lived always matched up. Because they held fast to the truth of the word of God. And it made an impact in my life. And that's the way it should be for your lives as well. That's why he says, you've got a lost world around you. Life is really hard for you. Hold on

tight. Keep a firm grip on the traditions that we have taught you about what God's word has to say. Because life is hard, but God's word is good. And so he says, stand firm, hold fast to the traditions. And then he goes on to speak of God's comfort. Notice what he says in verse 16. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal

comfort, be with us in this world. And may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. He says, now, now may the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father. It's kind of interesting that he uses those two persons of the triune Godhead. And as a matter of fact, in this section, he gives

us the Trinity, set apart by the Spirit, comforted by God the Father and by Jesus Christ, his Son. The triune Godhead given to us. He couples them together, indicating the nature of Jesus Christ being the same as the nature of God the Father. He said, now, may those two, the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, and he describes him in this way, who has, first of all, loved us. There it is again. In a span of three

verses, he has talked about the love of God twice now. As a matter of fact, it's kind of interesting because as theological as Paul is, and he has talked about the love of God twice now, he has 文 ingl 맛, and he is incredibly theological, he wrote so much about the love of Jesus Christ. He wrote about the love of Jesus Christ in the book of Romans. He wrote about the love of Jesus Christ in the book of Ephesians. He wrote about the love of Jesus Christ in the

book of 1 and 2 Corinthians. He's written about the love of Jesus in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. It's almost like it's a pretty important thing in our lives to really understand the love of Jesus Christ. Right? Because as he's speaking these words of comfort, as he's speaking these words of encouragement to them, he says, now, Jesus Christ himself and God the Father who loves you. That's who they are. They're the ones who

love you. And then he says, not only those who love you, but who has given to us eternal comfort. Who's given to us eternal comfort. Again, if you're in the position where every day of your life you fear for your life, where every day of your life is hard, one of the greatest things that you can hear is that you have eternal comfort. Because you know what the end of the

story is. And you may never find that type of comfort on this side of eternity, but you can know that you will have an eternal comfort to look forward to. Who has given us eternal comfort and who has given us good hope. Because those two are always coupled together. Eternal comfort and good hope. And how has he given those things to us? By his grace. By his grace. By his

understanding. By his understanding. By his understanding. By his understanding. By his unmerited favor towards us. By his unmerited, unearned favor towards us, he has given us love, comfort, and hope. And as he addresses this God, he now prays that that God would do a couple of things for these Thessalonian believers. He prays that God, the eternal, the God of eternal

comfort, the God of good hope who loves them, would give them comfort and strength and strength in their hearts for every good work. That word comfort is a familiar word that's used by Paul in both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. The Greek word is the word parakaleo. And it carries with it the idea, it's the same word that's used of the Holy Spirit, as he is our comforter. And the idea of

parakaleo means to come alongside or to call to one's side. And that's the idea that he gives to us here. He says, now, may the God who loves you, the God who has given you comfort, and the God who gives you eternal hope, may he just comfort you. May he come alongside you, but more than that, may he call you to his side. And it's fascinating how God does this for us.

It's fascinating how God does this in very interesting ways in our lives. We just went through a couple of chapters ago in 2 Samuel on Wednesday night when David was running for his life from Absalom. He was running for his life because Absalom had risen up against him in rebellion, his own son. And as he is running for his life, he's running for his life because he's running for his life and about to face one of the hardest battles he'll ever have to go through. There's an interesting thing that takes place. Three older gentlemen brought gifts out to

David and all of his men. They brought food, and they brought drink, and they brought beds. They brought that out to David and his men. And they got to feast with family right before he faced the hardest battles of our life. And I believe that from that moment, David wrote those familiar words in Psalm 23. People before me in the presence of my enemies. Brothers and sisters, that's the idea of what Paul

is requesting for these Thessalonian believers right now, is that God would prepare a table before them in the presence of their enemies. That as they are facing the hardship that they're facing and having to stand firm and hold fast to everything that they know to be true, that God would call them to their side and that he would comfort them. I always use this example, but when I was going through my life, I always used this example, but when I was going through my life, I was going through real hard times. In the very beginning, when I was first starting to get into ministry, even questioning whether or not I should be in ministry, I had to teach a lesson.

My Uncle Joe called me and said, you should come teach for me on a Sunday morning. And I said, that's a terrible idea. And he said, pray about it. So I did. And God said, do it. So I taught Psalm 23. And I was going through one of the hardest times of my life. I will always look back at that as one of the hardest times of my life. And in that moment, God did exactly what it says right here. He comforted me. Because in a time where I was

questioning everything about who I was, everything about my faith, and everything about who I was in Christ, God prepared a table before me. And as I took time to study and really learn Psalm 23, he called me to his side and he comforted me. And I will always look back at that and say, that is the reason I'm here today. It's because in the moment, I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.

In the moment of my hardest time, God prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies. And that's what he wants to do for you. When you go through those hard times, he wants to comfort you. And so Paul prays to that God of love, that God of hope, and that God of comfort. He says that God would comfort you. And the second thing he prays for them is that God would strengthen your

hearts, that God would strengthen your hearts. That word strengthen means to stabilize or to make firm. Bible translates it like this. It says, keeping them steadfast and on course. Keeping your heart steadfast and on course. Keeping your heart strong in the middle of hard times. And that's what he prays for. He says, may that God of love, that God of hope, and that God of comfort do these things

for you. Call you to his side and prepare a table in the presence of your enemies, and may he keep your heart strong and on course. I've told you to stand firm. This is how you stand firm. I've told you to hold fast. This is how you'll hold fast, is if God will strengthen your heart and keep you on course. And brothers and sisters, if you're in a place where you're having a hard time standing

firm, you need to start praying, Lord, bring your comfort and bring your strength. And if you know people that are going through hard times, you need to start praying for them. Bring your comfort and bring your strength. And why does he want them to be comforted and strengthened? So that they can take part in every good work and word. So that they can be comforted and strengthened.

So that they can go out and do the work of God. So that they can continue to go out and spread the word of God. Because that's why he does his work in us, is so that we can take it to the people that are around us. Amen. Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I know that in the midst of things going on in the world, that there's also things going on

in lives. Lord, there are those who maybe aren't facing the affliction and the persecution like the Thessalonian people were. But they're facing their own form of affliction and maybe even their own form of persecution. And Lord, I know that this exhortation, that this command to stand firm was exactly what they needed to hear because the thought of giving up sometimes is just there.

And so, Lord, I want to lift up every person that's sitting in this room this morning, or standing now. And Father, every person that's watching online, and Lord I just want to pray that you the God of all love the God of all comfort and the God of all hope Lord that that you would call them to your side or that you would come alongside them and prepare a table in the presence of their enemies father that they would know and sense your presence and that they would have that comfort of your Holy Spirit to come upon their lives father by the power of the Holy Spirit and through your grace and father I pray that you would strengthen their hearts or keep them on keep them on task

or keep them on track keep them focused or may their hearts not be drawn away from the things of you through hard times but Lord may their hearts continue to beat strong for you father give us the ability to stand firm give us everything that we need and help us understand who we are in you and father we just thank you and praise you in Jesus name Amen be blessed till from there was mercy in your to fulfill your church and came to ask that you didn't just us in because of taking care of us through the blood of the cross as you shed your blood for us on that cross as you rose from the dead you walked among men 40 days you ascended into glory and they're now at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us Thank You Jesus Jesus name Amen