Final Instructions for Godly Living

All right. Good morning. Good morning. It's good to see you all. I'm glad you're here. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. Welcome to those who are watching online. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we thank you for the day. Lord, we just thank you and we praise you for who you are, for how much you love us, Lord. Lord, we just want to take some time and just lift praise to you, to lift a joyful noise. We ask that you bless this time. Bless the word as it goes out. Let your Holy Spirit move in a mighty way. And bless those kids at the other end of the hall. We love you, Father. We praise you.

We thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. And I sing for the victory that we have in you, Lord God. Lord, we know how that story ends. Lord, we know in the end you win. And help us just to trust in you. Help us to trust in that victory.

Lord God, we just thank you that you are always faithful to us, Lord. Even when we're not, Lord. When we fail, you don't. Lord God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the freedom that we have in you. Freedom from the bondage of sin and death. Lord, we thank you.

Alone in my sorrow and dead in my sin.

Lost without hope. No place to begin.

Your love made me. Oh yeah. When death was arrested. My dash was redeemed. Only beauty remained.

Grew quiet. My feet rose to day. When death was arrested. Means I'm afraid. For what you've done through us, through your son, Jesus. Thank you for the freedom that we have in you, Lord.

Could y'all stand?

That is broken. Bring light to this darkness. You give hope.

Lord God, you are king of kings. Your name is above all. And one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that. You are. Glory to you, Lord, Lord. This morning, we just want to use the breath that you give us to return praise to you. All glory due to you this morning as Pastor Ryan comes, I pray that you would just overflow him or with your Holy Spirit, with your gift of teaching, prepare our hearts to receive that word.

But your Holy Spirit move in a mighty way. Bless the word and bless the kids at the other end of the hall. We love you and we praise you, Jesus name. All God's people said, Amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

If you could begin to locate your seat, grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Handful of things to take note of, as always, on the left hand side of what's going on throughout the week. Find a spot to get plugged into in the middle section of your bulletin. Just a reminder that we are going to do an extra showing of the 1916 project tonight. At 630. So come join us for that.

Be right here in the sanctuary. And then fellows, we've got a men's breakfast coming up next Saturday. So come join us for a men's breakfast. And then if you are helping out with Agape Fruits, just a reminder that that kicks off tonight. So be in prayer for that. And then if you still are interested in getting involved, I think you could probably go see Jordan afterwards.

And she can tell you how to get involved in that. And then just a reminder that it is almost... Sunday, November the 17th, which is when our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are going to be due. And then I think we have another friend coming to join us tonight.

Okay, I made it. Just in time. Good morning, everybody. My name is Just in T Box. What does the box stand for? Anybody? No way. Just in time box. Guess what, guys? We got seven days. Okay, seven days. And my mama, lunchbox. And my daddy, shoebox. They said don't ever be late. That's why they named me Just in Time. Because I'm always just in time. So I'm asking all of you to be in time with your Christmas boxes.

If you haven't got them done, look. We've got a few already started. Let's go. Let's just completely close off the corner and have a lot. There's like, I don't know, I can't even see anymore. Are there any boxes in the hallway? Anyone? Anyone? Were there still boxes? If there are, grab a box, take it home, fill it up, bring it back. So that we can bless children across the world.

Okay? Merry Christmas. Happy OCC.

Keep it together, Justin.

All right, so make sure that you have those here next Sunday. Okay, for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Saul. Psalm 70. Looking at the New American Standard for this, so that we all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one around you. While you are turning to Psalm 70, 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 Jared and the even verses. Psalm 70. For the choir director, a Psalm of David for a memorial. O God, hasten to deliver me. O Lord, hasten to my help. Let those be ashamed and humiliated. Who seek my life. Let those be turned back and dishonored. Who delight in my hurt. Let those be turned back because of their shame.

Who say, aha, aha. Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. And let those who love your salvation say continually, let God be magnified. And read verse five with me. But I am afflicted and needy. Hasten to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer. O Lord. O Lord, do not delay. And so, Father, we do praise you that you are the God who delivers. And Lord, that your timing is always perfect.

But Father, we do say, don't delay. We are looking forward to you coming back. And Lord, in the meantime, would you help us to occupy until you get here. So, Father, be with us as we spend time in your Word this morning. May we learn what you want us to learn. And may your Holy Spirit minister to our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles.

1 Thessalonians, chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. Today, we finish up the book of 1 Thessalonians. And so, I thought it good to take just a moment to recap kind of what we've talked about in this book. Paul had written to the Thessalonian believer shortly after he had been there. And as he did so, he did a handful of things. In chapter 1, he talked to them about the work of the gospel.

That the gospel had done its work in their lives because they had turned to the living God. From idols to serve the living and the true God. And so, the gospel had changed everything about who they were and transformed their lives. And then, we looked at the work of the minister. Because one of the things Paul had to do was defend his ministry. Because it had been criticized by those who he had left behind because of the fact that he had to leave so quickly.

And so, as he defended his ministry and talked about the work of the minister. We pulled out some principles of what it looks like for those of us who've been given the Great Commission to be ministers. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. And then, as we came to chapter 3, we talked about the work of encouragement. Because they had dealt with discouragement because of Paul's absence.

Because of the persecution that they had gone through. And through the presence of Timothy and the work of God, he brought encouragement to their hearts. And then, we started looking at practical instructions on Christian living. As he talked to them about being diligent, about growing, and about being pure in their walks. And then, the last two, we looked at end times events.

As we looked at living. As we looked at living with expectation. Expecting the return of Jesus through the rapture. And then, we looked at living with... Man, I just lost my train of thought there. Living in preparation as we prepare for that second coming of Jesus. And so, today, as Paul often does at the end of his letters. He kind of goes rapid fire. And just like, hey, I've got a whole bunch of other things I want to tell you.

But I'm running out of time. And so, he throws a whole bunch at them. So, I've entitled the message today. Final Instructions for Godly Living. Final Instructions for Godly Living. Final Instructions for Godly Living. And so, we pick up in verse 12 of chapter 5. And it says this. But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you.

And have charge over you in the Lord. And give you instruction. And that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly. Encourage the faint-hearted. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil. But always seek after that which is good for one another.

And for all people. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Holy Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully. And hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely.

And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete. Without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you. And he also will bring it to pass. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And so as we look at this last set of verses. Under this title of final instructions for godly living. He's going to give us five pieces of instruction. On what it looks like to live a godly life. And so we come up with the first one. We start with the first one. Which is to live respectfully. We are to live respectfully. Notice what it says in verse 12. But we request of you brethren.

That you appreciate those who diligently labor among you. And have charge over you in the Lord. And give you instruction. That you esteem them highly. Highly in love because of their work. And live in peace with one another. He deals with leadership within the church. And ultimately leadership in life. And what he does is he tells those who are under leadership.

That they are to respect those in leadership. And he tells those in leadership. That they are to be respectful of those that they are leading. And so he deals first of all with the brethren. And he gives the brethren three ways. In which they are to be respectful. Or to live respectfully towards those who are in leadership. The first thing he says is to appreciate them.

To appreciate them. The idea is to recognize and to respect the authority. That God has given to these that do this work. That do the work of admonishing. That do the work of charging. That do the work of instructing and laboring amongst them. He tells them that they should recognize and respect them. Now I think this is an important point that's to be made.

Because we live in a culture that doesn't respect authority anymore. I see it in law. Lots of places of culture. But ultimately there's nothing new about the fact that our culture doesn't respect authority. It's just a little more welcome than it used to be. It's a little more accepted than it used to be. But this aspect of not respecting authority ultimately goes back to the garden.

Ultimately goes back to the fall of man. Because after all when Eve fell. What did she decide she could be? She decided she could be her own God. She decided that she could be the one who could decide what was right. And what was wrong. And that same spirit. That same spirit pervades the culture today. And so as he's talking to these church members. As he's talking to these Thessalonian believers.

He tells them it's important that you recognize and respect the authority of those who lead. But the second thing that he tells them that they need to do. Is that they need to esteem them. The word esteem means to hold in high regard. In other words hold them in a place where you understand what God has done in their life. And then he tells the congregation to do a third thing.

He tells them to. To live in peace with one another. To live in peace with one another. Now. I think that one of the best things that you can do for anybody that is in any form of leadership. Is to not cause them problems. And I just say that completely honestly. Like I've been in leadership for a really long time. And I've been a heads of ministries for a really long time.

And I'm here to tell you right now. There is nothing like being able to lead a group of people that can just figure their business out. They can just get along with each other. Because I've also led groups of people that cannot get along. With each other. And I'm here to tell you right now. That makes the job of a leader really hard. It's true in church. It's true in your workplaces.

It's true in every aspect of life. And so one of the best ways that you can show the people in charge. How thankful you are for them. How respectful you are of your authority. Is to figure your business out. And learn to get along with each other. Learn to live in peace with one another. I've been watching some things take place in our culture. Today. And we're having a hard time living in peace with one another.

Aren't we? There was an election this last week. I don't know if you realize that or not. But it was kind of a big deal. And for some of us we were really happy with how the election turned out. And for some of us we were not as happy with how the election turned out. But whichever one it was. We have to learn to live in peace with each other now. Don't we?

If the candidate that you really wanted to win won. Then I would encourage you not to be someone who gloats. I would encourage you not to be someone who now. Who now starts to tell everybody that you were right. And you name the things that you can do. Although as a sidebar in my fleshly side. The internet has done some amazing things right now. I am just. I'm so thankful that there are people on the internet that are creative.

And know how to make creative funny things. And I will share those with my friends. I will not share them on social media. Because I don't want to be offensive to anybody who doesn't agree with me. But that's sometimes the way that we need to look at it. If your candidate did not win. It's not time for you to get on social media. And cry and shave your head.

That's just all that there is to it. That is not living in peace with each other. Right? We have to learn to get along. Because you're going to have people within the church. And outside of the church. That don't think the way that you do. And we can't allow those divisions. To drive us apart in every part of our lives. We have to learn to live in peace with one another.

Because it's one of the greatest ways to show. Not only our respect for authority. But ultimately our respect for God. But not only does he deal with living respectfully. As far as those who are under authority. But he deals with living respectfully. For those who are in authority. Because he tells them. That if you are someone who is in authority. There's three things that should be true of you.

Especially in authority in a church. Did you take note of this? Notice what it says in verse 12. But we request of you brethren. That you appreciate those who. Diligently labor among you. Have charge over you. In the Lord. And give you instruction. You see as he lists those three things. Those are three things. That should be true of leaders. Those are things that should be true of.

Those who are in any form of authority. Number one. They should diligently labor among you. That word labor in the Greek. Could be translated labor to the point of exhaustion. And that's what leaders are supposed to do. That's what those who truly lead others do. Is they work to the point of exhaustion. In other words. If I'm a leader. I'm never going to ask you.

As a follower to do any more than I do. I'm not going to ask you to be here more than I am. I'm not going to ask you to shoulder. More of a responsibility than I do. Because that's not what it looks like to lead. That's what it looks like to dictate. You see leaders lead by example. And the example that they should lead by. Is their diligent hard work. And that's what we're to be.

Some people say well I want to be. In a position of leadership in the church. I'm like great. Grab a tool belt. Grab a broom. Grab a mop. Start mowing the yard. Because that's what it looks like to lead. Leading looks like work. And it looks like diligent labor. The second thing that he tells leaders that they are to do. Is that they are to have charge over.

Those that they have authority over. What does that mean? Well let me use a little bit of a different word there. They have responsibility. Yes you are in charge of. But ultimately you are responsible for. And listen if you're a leader in here. Whether it be a leader in the church. Or whether it be a leader in your company. A leader in your shift. That you work at.

In the place where you work. You need to understand that you have responsibility. That the people underneath of you are looking to you. And you have a responsibility to them. I will never forget after the September 11th attacks happened. Watching an interview with a guy who owned a business. On one of the floors of the World Trade Center. And almost every one of his employees died.

They did not make it out. And he did. And he felt so guilty about it. And I remember. Watching him interviewed. As he shared about exactly what he was going through. Through the loss of his employees. And his heart was broken. His heart was broken. Because he knew they were his responsibility. And he felt like he had let them down. Because he couldn't get them out alive.

Brothers and sisters. That's what it looks like to be a leader. To be a leader. It looks like somebody who cares more about the people. That you are responsible for. Than you do about yourself. Because that's what it looks like to lead. The third thing that he tells leaders. That they're supposed to do. Is that they are supposed to be those who instruct others.

They give instruction. And that's why we give so much time. To the teaching of the word here. Is because we feel like. The most important thing. That I as the pastor can do. As the main leader here in the church. Is to instruct you in what God's word has to say. Because if I can instruct you. In what God's word has to say. Decision making process starts to get easier and easier for you.

Because you can say. Well I know that this is what God's word has to say. And I know that this is what God's word has to say. And so this is probably the way that I should act. But not only is it me instructing you. But that's why we have small group leaders. That are instructing you and teaching you. Leading you into the things that are true. Because that's what leaders do.

Is they instruct others. And so he says. If we are to live godly. Then we need to live respectfully. If you are in leadership. You should respect those who you lead. And if you are being led. You need to respect those. Who are in a place of authority. So number one. Live respectfully. Number two. We are to live with discernment. We are to live with discernment.

Notice what it says in verse 14. He says. We urge you brethren. Admonish the unruly. Encourage the faint hearted. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another. With evil for evil. But always seek after that. For which is good for one another. And for all people. Now. This particular time. He's not talking to leaders anymore. He's talking to the congregation.

We know because he addresses them as brethren. So he's talking to the congregation here. And he tells them that when you begin to handle people. When you begin to work with the people around you. You need to have a certain amount of discernment. The discernment to know who needs what. I was asked a question here recently. They said. What's one of the greatest challenges that you face as a pastor?

And I said. One of the greatest challenges I face as a pastor. Is to know how to meet. How to meet specific needs of individuals. Because everybody needs something different. And it requires a lot of discernment. And that's kind of what he tells us here. And in this discernment. He tells us there's certain ways we need to handle different things. The first thing he tells us that we need to do.

Is we need to admonish the unruly. To admonish the unruly. The word admonish means to warn. And the word unruly actually has a couple of different interesting meanings to it. The word unruly can first of all mean. Rebellious or disorderly. Which is exactly what you think. When you think of when you think of someone who is unruly. Now what that means is that we as the church.

We as the congregation. We as the called out assembly have a responsibility. And the responsibility that we have. Is that when we begin to see someone live in sin. When we begin to see someone living a rebellious life. When we begin to see someone lead a disorderly life. Or create division within the church. Our job is to warn them. You understand that what you're doing is sin.

You understand that what you're doing is bringing division. You understand that what you're doing. Is hurting the church. And it's hurting you. That is our job as believers. You say Ryan that's so judgmental. No judgmental is when I tell you I'm better than you. I would never do that. Warning people is telling them the truth. With a heart that wants to see them restored.

There's a difference between the two. And he says that's what we're to do. We're to we're to warn each other. But you know not only does that word unruly mean. Rebellious or disorderly. That word unruly can also mean. Idle. In other words. Lazy. That means that we are to admonish those. Who are not willing to work. You can't do that. Sure you can. Paul said we could right there.

That's what he tells us to do. And listen I want you to know something. Sometimes in your job. You'll get to work around other believers. And sometimes it's the greatest blessing that you'll have in your life. And sometimes it's the least amount of blessing you can have in your life. Because sometimes. They understand like you. Their work ethic. Is their greatest witness.

That the way that they handle themselves. In their place of employment. Is absolutely a part of their walk with Jesus Christ. And then there's the rest of the church. Who says. I'm the church on Sunday. I'm me on Monday. And they live like the rest of the world. That means it's time for us to admonish them. And if you work around unbelievers. Or if you work around believers.

And you see them acting like everybody else. And you see them. Clocking in. And sitting down and doing nothing. And essentially stealing time from the company. You need to admonish them. You need to say you know. That hurts your witness. And it hurts my witness. Because they associate me with you. I can never do that. You have to do that. Because that's what the body of Christ does.

And listen. If you are an employee as a believer in Jesus Christ. And you work with other Christians. You should expect them to call you out on your laziness. Because as the church. As believers. Our work ethic is a part of our witness. And he says we are to admonish the idol. And that also comes down to this. If we know people within this congregation. And they have the ability to work.

And they refuse to go out and get a job. You absolutely have the right to say. Why aren't you working? Why are you being idle? Why are you being lazy? It's not our job to take care of you. If a man doesn't work. He shouldn't eat. That's what Paul is going to say. In 2 Thessalonians. Because the problem didn't end. He says admonish the unruly. The second thing he says.

Is to encourage the faint hearted. You see some people are going to be unruly. And they need to be dealt with with a harsh hand. They need to be dealt with with a hand of authority. And then there's other people. Who are going to be faint hearted. The word faint hearted means timid. Or they lack spiritual courage. In other words. A person quite frankly struggles with knowing.

Who you are in Christ. Well if you're that person. I don't need to come along and warn you. I need to come along and encourage you. I need to come along and say. It's going to be okay. Jesus still loves you. I know you have weaknesses. But that's okay. We're going to walk through them. This is who you are in Christ. This is what it means to be a believer. And I want to encourage you.

To learn the difference between the two. And then the third thing he says is. We are to help the weak. That word weak literally means. Spiritually weak. We're to come alongside and help those. Who are spiritually weak. My wife and I had the chance to sit down. And talk to a couple of kids here recently. About our testimony. About in particular my wife's testimony.

And how we've ended up in the place where we are. And we talked a lot about the importance. Of our Bible study group. You see. When Erin first got saved. She started attending this Bible study. That this really hot guy was leading. No. She talked about going to this Bible study. That she was a part of. And that Bible study is what brought encouragement to her.

And it's what helped her. Because she was brand new in the faith. She didn't know where anything was in the Bible. I told somebody the other day. I'll never forget the first time we made Erin pray in public. And none of us thought about it. Because we all grew up in the church. But some of us college kids. Two or three of us college kids were sitting together.

And we said thumbs up praise. And she was the last one to put her thumbs up. And we're like you're praying for breakfast. That's the first time she ever prayed in public. And I didn't always think about those kinds of things. But that Bible study group. She will tell you. If she was standing right here next to me. She would say that is the thing. That kept pointing her to Jesus.

That kept her focused on Jesus. Because we helped each other when we were weak. You see there were two or three. I asked someone who went to Bible college. And knew a lot and grew up in the church. Was able to tell them this is what the Bible says. This is where you find these things. This is how we walk. I was going through my own set of things. I was kind of faint hearted at that point in time.

I was kind of timid. And these brand new believers God used in my life to encourage me. They said you don't see what we see. You don't see what we see in you. But we see it. Keep doing what you're doing. Because we need to hear from you. Why? If you only come on Sunday mornings. That's wonderful. But you're missing out. You're missing out on what you could be growing in.

Because you need a group that you're a part of. I don't care if that's coming here on Wednesday nights. Where it's a little bit smaller of a group. And you can get plugged in a little bit better. I don't care if that's one of the small groups that we have. Even just coming to men's breakfast. Women's breakfast. To where you can have people that sharpen you.

And encourage you and keep you focused. Because they can help the weak. Do you have struggles in your life? Do you have areas of sin that you're dealing with? You've got to bring somebody in on that. And that's what we're to do as the body of Christ. When you see someone who's weak. We don't knock them down. We help them up. Help the weak. Then he goes on to say.

And be patient with everyone. Does patience really require discernment? Have you ever tried to be patient with people? Of course it requires discernment. You have to be able to discern when you're not being patient. And God's really good at being like. It's pretty rude what she just did there. They actually might need a little bit of grace in their life. They actually might need a little bit of patience in their life.

Remember when you needed patience? You need to show that to them. But we're to be patient with everyone. What if they don't agree with me? Be patient with them. What if they think differently than I do? Be patient with them. What if they shaved their head and took a picture of themselves crying because of the election this week? Be patient with them. Right?

That's what he calls us to do. But it requires discernment. Not only that. But he goes on to say. And don't repay evil with evil. Instead seek what is good for all. Don't repay evil for evil. Seek what's good. Again this requires discernment. Requires discernment of the Holy Spirit. That when somebody does evil for you. To go what's the best way you want for me to respond?

What's the best way that you can have for me to respond? What's the best way that you can have for me to respond? You know. When the Holy Spirit in his discernment usually does two things. Number one he makes you delete things. You know. We've all started to send the text. And what I hate more than anything is when the Holy Spirit says delete and I accidentally hit send.

And I was like. Oops. Wrong button. Right? Delete, delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. But sometimes he'll make us delete things. But then that discernment of the Holy Spirit will actually tell you. Now I want you to show love. I actually want you to go out of your way to show love. love to them. Because I want you to do good to all people. We have to live with discernment

and have the Holy Spirit minister to us to say, they need this, they need this. This is how you're going to do it. So number one, we're to live respectfully. Number two, we're to live with discernment. Number three, we are to live prayerfully. We're to live prayerfully. Notice what it says in verse 16. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. To live prayerfully. The first thing that he says about a prayerful life is that we are to rejoice always. In the Greek, this is actually the shortest verse in all of the Bible. In the English, the shortest verse is Jesus wept. But in the Greek, this is the shortest verse in the English. The entire Bible. And it's such a conclusive verse, right? It's so pertinent and pithy,

and it's just right there. Rejoice always. Because rejoicing in the Lord puts everything back into perspective. Let's use a different word. Because I always struggle to figure out, what does the word rejoice mean? I look it up every time I teach on it. And it always says the exact same thing. To be joyful, to be glad. How do you do that? I can't think of a better way

of doing that than to spend time praising the Lord. Because when we take time to praise the Lord, we're to live prayerfully. And it's just right there. Rejoice always. Because rejoicing in the Lord, our hearts begin to rejoice. Because it puts our eyes back on the Lord and off of what's going on in our lives. You know what keeps us from rejoicing? All of the circumstances of life.

All of the things that are going on. Lord, I can't rejoice because of... No, rejoice always. But Lord, they did. Rejoice always. But you don't understand, but rejoice always. It's a pretty conclusive verse. It doesn't matter what's going on. It doesn't matter what's happening. Rejoice. But I can't rejoice in this. No, but you can rejoice through it. You can rejoice through this. Because you can still rejoice in the Lord no matter what's

happening in your life. You have to turn to praise. You have to praise God for what you know to be true, not what's happening in your life. That's why you being in the Psalms is a beautiful thing. Because much of the Psalms is that. Is David rejoicing in what he knows to be true in spite of what's going on in his life? The one that we read this morning, Psalm 70,

hasten to my help. Now hasten to help. And rejoicing puts everything back into perspective. Because it puts our perspective back on God. And so he says, number one, rejoice always. Number two, he tells us to pray without ceasing. To pray without ceasing. Now this does not mean that you have to go around all the time with your head bowed and your eyes closed. Otherwise you become a fail video, right?

Now listen, every now and then, if you just want to walk around with your head bowed and your eyes closed, have somebody videotape you because I want to watch later. And I want us to make it on the Instagram. We'll call it prayer fails. Hashtag Calvary Arc City prayer fails. It's going to be great. It's going to be awesome. That's a joke. You shouldn't really do that unless you want to. In which case, send them to me because

I want to see them. But that's not what he means by pray without ceasing. You can't do that. You can't just walk around praying. Eventually you have to do your work, right? Eventually you have to live your life. So what does he mean by pray without ceasing? The idea is to have a constant contact with God. A constant heart of communication with the Lord. Let me give you a little bit of an illustration that again involves my wife.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do once I figured out what my name is, is I say good morning to my wife, right? Give her a little hug after I brush my teeth. I give her a little kiss. And that starts the day. And then she goes off to work in Dexter. I come down here. But throughout the day when things pop up, I keep that line of communication open. Maybe I'll text her,

hey, I don't remember what's going on with this. She'll text me something. I'll send her a funny meme. You name the thing, right? If I need to call her and she's available, she'll take the call. That's a rare thing as a teacher. If something pops up, she needs to call me. She calls me and talks to me for a minute. And then we come back together after she gets off work and we go grab ourselves a caffeinated beverage and

spend a little time driving around and talking about life. Then we go about the rest of our evening, sometimes talking about deep things, sometimes trying to figure out who got their homework done or not, sometimes deciding what the plan looks like for the next day. And then we say good night. And that ends the day. You see, I wasn't actually in communication with my wife that entire day, but the line of

communication was open the entire day. Does that make sense? That's what it means to pray without ceasing, is you keep the line of communication between you and God open constantly. I've always said, and I will continue to say, the best way that you can live your life is when you wake up in the morning, say, dear God, and when you go to bed at night, say amen. And throughout the day,

you're just talking to God, right? And you're sharing with them the things that are going on in your life. I do this all the time. It's actually my ADHD mind is the best way that it works for me. I'm getting ready to go into a counseling situation. I'll just stop and say, Lord, I need your wisdom right now because I have no idea what's coming. Or sometimes I'll go into

a counseling situation and say, Lord, I need your wisdom right now because I do know what's coming and I don't know what to say. And as I just go throughout the day, like, hey, this is too hard for me, Lord, I can't handle it. Lord, thank you for what you've done here. I can't believe you blessed that as much as you did, but it's a constant communication. And that's what it

means to me. It means to pray without ceasing because that's what it means to be in constant contact with God. And so he says, rejoice always, pray without ceasing. Number three, in everything, give thanks. All right. Now I make a comment about this every year and every year it gets worse. I don't know why people aren't listening to me, but it seems as though we have

forgotten Thanksgiving this year. Would you all agree with that? More than any other year I can remember, right? So I'm going to tell you a little story. So I'm not a big fan of Halloween. I actually hate Halloween. I think it's an evil holiday, whatever you guys do, whatever you want to, but I don't like it. And so I'm never home on Halloween. We go do something different, right? And so Violet was

getting her wisdom teeth out the next day. I'm like, you know what you need the day before you get your teeth hacked out of your head? Steak. And daddy needs steak too. So we go up to Texas Roadhouse and we eat a little steak and she goes, can we go to Shields? And I'm like, all right. So we go down to Shields and I'm in there and I'm trying shoes on. My boy DeAndre just keeps bringing

me new shoes to try on. And I'm like, I'm going to go to Shields. And I'm like, I'm going to go to Shields. And it was amazing because it's my favorite thing to do. And I stopped in the middle of trying to pair on and I'm like, I look at him and I said, is that Christmas music? And he said, yes. This is October 31st, people. And there's Christmas music playing. And I said,

why are we playing Christmas music? It's still Halloween. He goes, I don't know. It just happened at some point in time of the day. Scariest thing ever. We're listening to a regular song one minute. Next thing I know, Christmas song. And we're all like, he goes, nobody even knows who started it.

Talk about Halloween, right? That's scary. And I love Christmas music. But then the next day I go and the Scooters coffee, they got candy canes lined in the whole place. And I'm like, did we just forget that Thanksgiving exists? Did we completely forget that? And I think the answer is yes, we did. You know why? Because everybody's excited about Christmas because there's presents. Nobody's

excited about Thanksgiving because it's giving, right? You're being thankful. It's not as corporate of a holiday. And so we don't spend as much time focused on it. You know, the other thing I've noticed, I miss these cheesy things. There used to always be the Thanksgiving challenge. You guys remember that on social media? Usually it's the Facebook machine where every day you would say something that you

were thankful for. And they were always the cheesiest thing in the world. Like by the time it was done, you were like, I'm thankful that today's Tuesday, right? Because you ran out of things to be thankful for. But I kind of miss that. We're not a people that gives thanks. We're a people that's focused on us. But he tells us, this is what you're supposed to do. We're not a people that gives thanks.

You're supposed to do. You're supposed to give thanks. And I want you to notice what he says. Give thanks in everything. I want you to notice what he did not say. He did not say, I want you to give thanks for everything. Because when you say that, people say, well, I can't be thankful for this. Well, I wouldn't be thankful for that either. But you can still be thankful to God in the process of

it. Why? Because in the book of Romans chapter eight, it tells us, and we know that all things work together for the good, those who love God and those are the called according to his purpose. It means that everything that happens in life, God uses for your good and for his glory. So everything that happens in your life, you can still be thankful to God because he's still good.

He's still God. And he's still using it in your life. But he tells us we are to give thanks in everything. And if you really don't believe me, notice what he says next. For this is the will of God for you.

God's will for my life quiz. You never got be thankful, right? You were thinking doctor, lawyer, pastor, engineer, you name the thing. Thankful is not what you thought you'd come up with. But do you realize that in first Thessalonians, we are given two things that are God's will for our life. Number one is your sanctification. Number two is that you would be thankful in everything. Why? Because it changes our perspective. We view things differently in

life. We view things differently in life. We view things differently in life. We view things differently in life. This is one of the areas God's worked on me a lot. No matter what happened this last Tuesday, I had determined that I was going to be thankful to God. Whichever direction it went. Because I knew that whoever the president is is a whole lot less important than who my God is.

Whoever the president is is a whole lot less important than whether or not I'm loving people. So I had determined whatever happens, I'm going to be thankful. And I'm going to praise God in the midst of all of it. It's a big step for me because I pay a lot of attention to politics and I care. I'm a pretty passionate human being. I don't know if you've noticed that or not. But I had determined that. Because that's an area

God's growing me. And I think that if we as the church could start to do that, be thankful no matter what, then it changes our perspective and it changes the way the world views us. And so he tells us to not only live respectfully, not only to live with discernment, not only to live prayerfully, number four, to live spiritually. To live spiritually. Verse 19. Do not quench the

spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine everything carefully and hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil. He tells us to live spiritually. The first thing he tells us is don't quench the spirit. Now I'm just going to be really honest with you guys about something. When you deal with the, we have dealt with two controversial things now in this book once I'm

done with this. Number one is end times events. That's one of the big things that churches argue about. The second thing that they argue about a lot is the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The working of the Holy Spirit. And there's, there's two ends of this spectrum, right? On one end you have the, we'll call them the hyper charismatics that is just, it's a part of

everything that they do, right? The gifts of the Spirit are flowing in every aspect of their lives and I'm not saying I totally disagree with that, although we do have to be careful not to take it too far. And then on the other hand you have the ultra conservative people who I don't think believe that the Holy Spirit even exists sometimes. And they definitely don't think they need him for living or for anything else.

They don't really believe in the gifts. I land somewhere in the middle usually, but I got to be honest with you. I was in a prayer meeting here recently and, and it was with a very charismatic group of people. And this guy goes, we're going to pray Pentecostal. And I was like, boy, I've been walking with Jesus a long time, but I don't know what that means. He goes, I said, okay, I feel like I can, I've been around

some pretty Pentecostal people in my day. And they said, you start. And I was like, dear Jesus, and everybody just started talking. And I was just like, and I'm trying to pray at the same time. Now I'm not saying, hey, listen, if that's the way that they can pray, that's great. My ADHD brain that's also highly auditory and can't focus at all was kind of like, I don't know what I'm praying

now. What they said, right? That's all I could do at some point in time. It's like, dear Jesus, just work in this. And then whatever they said, because I felt it was probably pretty good, right? And so the church is different when it comes to these kinds of things. But we have to understand that we have to pray at the same time. And I'm not saying, hey, listen, if that's the way

that we can quench that working of the Holy Spirit. And there's three ways that we, three main ways I feel like that we can quench that working of the Holy Spirit. The first way that we quench the Spirit, which the word quench means to put out the flame, to douse the flame. The first way that we quench the Holy Spirit is by resisting Him. Like when the Holy Spirit wants to do something

in your life, you just kind of push it away. Maybe you push it away through sin. Maybe you push it away through distraction. Maybe you just push it away because you don't want anything to do with it. Like that's, that's one way that we quench the Holy Spirit. Like do the Holy Spirit's just rolling and God's moving and you just kind of push it away and all of a sudden just kind of douses the flame and sort

of takes the moment out, right? Second way that we can quench the Holy Spirit is I think by making too much of it. When the gifts become the show, then we miss out on what the Holy Spirit wants to do. And this is why, according to the book of John, the Holy Spirit has one main job. And the main job of the Holy Spirit is to declare, to explain, and to teach about Jesus. To lead us into

the truth of who Jesus is. And so if the gifts of the Holy Spirit are moving like they're supposed to, they will always point people to Jesus. But if the gifts of the Holy Spirit become the show and Jesus isn't the focus anymore, then we've quenched the work of the Holy Spirit. Because now the Spirit's not doing what He was intended to do, which is to point us to Jesus, right? So

that's another way that we can quench the Spirit. And then on the other end, we can quench the Spirit not even ever seeking Him and not believing that those gifts exist at all. I absolutely believe that the gifts of the Spirit exist for today. I think that tongues is a real gift. I think that healing is a real gift. I think prophecy, word of knowledge, I absolutely believe in all of those

as long as they're used in the way that Scripture tells us they're to be used. And we need that power and authority in our lives. And so He tells us not to quench the Holy Spirit, to allow the Spirit to move the way that He wants to, that work in our lives, to be balanced about the way that we handle it. And then He tells us one main way that we are not to quench the working of the Holy Spirit. Do not despise prophetic

utterances. Don't despise the word of prophecy, some of your translations may say. Now, the word of prophecy in the New Testament is a little bit different than it is in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, they were speaking forth future events, right? These are the things that are coming. And there's a little bit of that that takes place in the New Testament. But New Testament

idea of the gift of prophecy is speaking forth future events. And that's what we're talking about the word of God specific to a situation or specific to a person. And that is a very real gift. And that's a very real thing. And we should not despise that. I've actually seen this work. I've seen God use this in my life. I can tell you two different stories of when God has used that

gift of prophetic utterance in my life. The first time I was a teenager and I was not at all walking with Jesus. And my dad had done something to fill in up at Calvary in Wichita. I don't remember if he taught or if he did worship. But this old dude came up to me afterwards and he was like, God's going to use you. He has a calling on your life and you should know that. And I looked at him and I was like, sweet. Can we go get lunch

now? Because I didn't care. And I look back and I'm like, man, that was a word of prophecy in my life. Like God was speaking that to me at that point in time to prepare me for what was coming. But the biggest one is when I was in Bible college, a friend of mine wrote me a note. Her name's Jen. As a matter of fact, I messaged her about this just a few months ago. Like, do you remember this?

She's like, I don't. It's really cool. She wrote me this note and she said, there's going to come a time in your life when you question God's calling and you're going to want to quit. And when that happens, don't quit. Keep leaning into God because the enemy is trying to destroy you. And she wrote me this note. I was like, well, that's really nice. And it's folded up,

stuck in my Bible. Didn't think too much about it. A year and a half later, I was going through that Bible and I found that note. And I was going through a time when I was questioning my calling. And I was questioning it. And I read that note and I was like, oh, wow, that really is a word for me. A word for me in my life. And so don't despise those. Instead, what we're to do is if somebody

offers a prophetic word into our lives, we are to, verse 21, examine everything carefully. Hold it up against what God's word has to say. Does this line up with what the Spirit's been doing in my life? And does this line up with God's word? Because the Spirit is never going to violate what God's word has to say. It's never going to oppose what God's word has to say.

It's never going to oppose what God's word has to say. And so we hold it up against God's word and decide if it's true, decide if it's real. And then we hold fast to that which is good and we abstain from every form of evil. If it's of God, we hold on to it. And if it's not of God, we get rid of it. But I want to point out one thing he says there, abstain from every form of evil.

And that speaks not only to a word of prophecy that did not come from the Lord, but it speaks literally of everything. Every form of evil. In this Christian life that we have, in this Christian life that we live, there's a lot of evil and there's a lot of it that's accepted in the culture today. And we should abstain from it. And so he tells us that we are to live spiritually. And then number

five, he tells us that we are to live set apart. We are to live set apart. Notice what it says, verse 23, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved. Complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will bring it to pass. He says, now may the God of peace. I love the way he refers to

that. Because in a world full of chaos, in a world full of anxiousness, God is always our peace. He is the author of peace. He is the giver of peace. And he is the sustainer of peace. He says, now may the God of peace sanctify you. Completely. That word sanctify means to set apart. To set apart for specific use. And you are set apart for the use of God. Let me tell you a little bit of a story. So when I was in the eighth grade,

I wrestled and everybody had these Nike socks. Kind of like what they wear today. The long, everybody wore the long socks then, right? They wore these long Nike socks. And we didn't have a whole lot of money. So one time I was like, hey, can I have a pair of those Nike socks? My parents bought me a pair of them. And so those were my sanctified socks, right? Those were only for

wrestling tournament days because that's what the cool kids wore at the wrestling tournaments was the Nike socks. And so I was like, those can't be worn any other day. Those aren't for everyday use. Those are sanctified. They are set apart for tournament days. Brothers and sisters, you are sanctified socks, right? You are set apart by God for a specific purpose. Stop being used for common

things. If you're set apart for the use of the master, don't allow yourself to be drugged through the dirt of the world. Be set apart. And he tells us that sanctification is God's work in our life. Positionally, you're sanctified. You're set apart unto God, but now you live sanctified as you surrender yourself to him. I was talking to a young man that just got saved. And we were talking about faith and we were

talking about life and walking with Jesus because he wants to learn a little bit more about what that looks like. And I said, here's what it is. You started by bringing all of your sin to Jesus and you just wanted forgiven. Only what you didn't realize, is you started a process. And that process that you started is a process of complete surrender to the Lord. You gave him your guilt. Now he wants everything else. And pretty soon you'll find that

you'll give him the thoughts in your mind, the words of your mouth, where your feet go, what your hands do, what your motivations are, and you'll slowly but surely give him every part of who you are. And it will be the most joyous thing ever because his plan is so much better than yours. And it will be a lifelong process of you being set apart for the use of God. And you'll find that you're sanctified unto God.

Every part of who you are. That's what it means. And so he says, now may the God of peace sanctify you entirely. And then he says, and may your spirit and your soul and your body be complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, your whole person can be completely without blame or blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus. What does that mean?

Well, it doesn't mean sinless because we can't be sinless. It means blameless. In other words, no one can bring a charge against. No one can bring a charge against you. So I have a friend that went to prison for a time for a crime that he committed, a crime that he should have gone to prison for. And while he was in prison, he got saved. He was full of anger and full of rage and was in prison because of that anger and that rage. And

while he was in prison, he found Jesus. And he said, one of the things that every prisoner has to do that comes to mind is to find Jesus. And so he said, I'm going to find Jesus. I'm going to find Jesus is they have to learn to own up to their sin. They have to learn to own up to their crime because you spent your whole time saying, I didn't do it. He said, eventually you have to come to

that place where you say, I did it. This is why I did it. And this is why it was wrong. And this is why I'm never going to do it again. He said, I should never have been paroled. He said, but we had a Bible study group that got together on a pretty consistent basis. And we would actually practice confessing our sin. We would practice as if we were in front of a parole board and we would

confess our crime, why we committed our crime, why it was wrong, and why we're never going to do it again. And he said, we just practiced over and over again. And he said, it came to a place where I didn't have that guilt anymore because I had confessed it. It was out in the open. They couldn't, no one could hold anything against me anymore. He said, and when I stood before that

parole board, I was blameless. Because they couldn't bring a charge against me because I had already accepted it myself. I had already owned up to what I'd done. So much so that they said, you can rejoin society. Isn't that amazing? That's the idea of what it means to be blameless, is we finally come out of the shadows and into the open and say, this is who I am. This is where I struggle. These are my sins.

And now no one can hold them against you. You are blameless. He said, that you would be body, soul, and spirit blameless before the Lord. And then he closes with verse 24 and says, faithful is he who calls you, and he will also bring it to pass. Faithful is he who calls you. He who calls you to be blameless. He who calls you to be sanctified. He who calls you

to be the man or woman of God that he wants for you to be. He is faithful. The God who calls you to be that is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. He is faithful. To also be the God who does the work in your life. Sometimes as we look at this Christian life, it feels very overwhelming. Can we all agree with

that? Sometimes it can feel really overwhelming. And we have to be reminded that the battle belongs to the Lord. It's not by might. It's not by power. But it's through the Lord's spirit that these things are done. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. And so he's told us that we should live respectfully, live with discernment, live prayerfully, live spiritually, and live set apart.

And now we come to the conclusion. Notice what he says in verse 25. He says, brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. As Paul wraps up this book, I love the humility that Paul has in his life. Because here is this apostle,

the man who started the church, the man who is instructing the church and is continuing to start more churches and will go on to write most of the New Testament. And he's going to say, could you pray for us? Could you pray for us? I think that's important because sometimes we're not good at asking people to pray for us, are we? I'm chief of this, right? I'm really good at saying, how can I pray for you?

But when people ask me, how can I pray for you? I clam up, I'm like, uh, uh, right? Because sometimes it's hard to be vulnerable like that. And our pride sometimes keeps that from happening. And yet Paul in his humility, even in the position that he was in said, could you guys pray for us? Boy, we could sure use it. He says, greet each other. He says, greet each other with a holy kiss.

Now, we need to understand the culture of that point in time. A holy kiss was absolutely a normal thing. The men would give each other a holy kiss. The women would give each other a holy kiss. There was nothing weird about it. I always tell the story about my friend from Bible college, Pete. Pete was an Egyptian. So we called him Pete the Egyptian because we got really creative like that.

And he was very, very Middle Eastern, right? And so every time he'd see me, he would say, Ryan! And he'd give me a kiss on the cheek. I'm like, bro, it's weird. Love you too, bud. But that's not what we do here, okay? Holy high five, bro hug, handshake. That's what we do, right? But none of that business. But that was their culture that they lived in at the time.

And so we don't do that. We don't do that here. And at the end of church, I don't want anyone to kiss me. That's going to be weird, okay? Two guys at the end of the last service, and they were just like, hey, Ryan. I'm like, no, it's weird, okay? Let's not do that. But we can holy high five. We can hug. We can handshake. But the idea is to greet each other because you're family and you're friends

and show each other that kind of love. And he says, make sure that this letter is read to everyone. And then he closes like he often does. The grace of our Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Because Paul was that apostle of grace. And we are reminded of those great words of that song, Amazing Grace. His grace has brought us safe thus far. And his grace will lead us home.

Amen? Let's all stand.

Remember, if you are able to, please join us tonight right here in the sanctuary at 630 as we watch that film. It is going to be really good. If you saw it once, you might want to come see it again. I would encourage you to. And hopefully, we'll see you guys. And if you'd bow with me. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, I thank you for what your word has to say to us.

Lord, I thank you for being faithful to declare the truth in your word. And Lord, that your Holy Spirit continues to do its work in us because of your grace. So Father, be with us as we go out from here. Move in our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Be blessed. Bless the Lord. Oh, my soul, worship his holy name. Sing like never before. Oh, my soul, I worship your holy name.

The sun comes up. It's a new day. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before. Let me be singing. And worship his holy name. Your name is great and your heart is kind. Oh, desire to worship you, Lord. Be in an attitude of prayer daily, Lord, looking to you. And we'll give you all the praise. Father, bless us as we leave here.

Encourage us in our walk. I witness it for you. Strengthen us with your might to live out this Christian walk for your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The Lord bless you all.