Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM-1Thess. 5:1-1, Pastor Ryan

Good. Well, hello there. Good morning. Would you all stand? We want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. Those of you who are online, those of you who are live with us in the flesh, in the body, yeah, I guess that came out right. Anyway, we're live, and we just welcome you. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we just want to thank you again for this opportunity

on a Sunday morning to gather, to worship in song, Lord, to study your word, to fellowship with you and one another. Oh, Lord, may your joy flow forth from us because of the work you're doing in our hearts, Lord. And may we be strengthened if we're not feeling very joyful right now, that you would be our help as we know you are. We just ask for your blessing on our service here.

In Jesus' name.

I search the world. Empty praise. Treasures that fade. I'll never know. You came, I'm now satisfied. Oh, God. All right, let's sing about it now. Oh, goodness. Oh, God. I will sing of your goodness. Oh, God. Oh, God, we just thank you for how good you are to us, Lord. Lord, we just thank you for how much you love us. Lord, we know we're not deserving of your love and your goodness.

Amen. Lord, I just lift up each one here that by your Holy Spirit, Father, as they hear the message that you've given Pastor Ryan, may it sink deep by your Holy Spirit. May it just move in the way you'd have it to. As your living word, your Holy Spirit's guidance, sensitive to that, that we may trust you, whatever circumstances are in our life, whatever's going on, purpose for everything.

Nothing takes you by surprise. You knew it before the foundations of the world, what you would do and how you would handle it for each of us. In those times of being in your word and prayer, Lord, we know it's not what you use to draw us in communication with you, that we can hear you. All right, let's have some fellowship. Good morning. If you can begin to find your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to

go over some announcements. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. Yes. As you can take note of, as always, on the left-hand side, the things that are going on throughout the week. Take note of those, get plugged in. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a reminder that we have one more time of prayer tonight before the

election. So if you're available, interested in coming out for prayer, that would be a great time to come out. They'll meet down at the other end of the hall at six o'clock. Ladies, there's a women's breakfast coming up next Saturday. I guess it's this Saturday. It all depends on how you call it. The ninth. Steamy Joe's at eight o'clock. So come check that out. Also, we are going to do one more

showing of the 1916 Project. I know that there were several people that came to me and said, hey, we couldn't make it for that night. And so we're going to offer a second showing of it. And then if you're like me, you needed a flow chart to keep up with all the names that he mentioned throughout it. So I'm looking forward to watching it again and being smarter

this time than I was last time. So that will be next Sunday, the 10th at 630. We'll be showing it here. So we won't be offering anything for the kids that night. But we're going to be doing a lot of things. All right. Thank you. But you're more than welcome to come join us for that. Agape Fruits is starting up next Sunday. So if you have signed up to help with that, then

there is going to be a meeting down in the Agape room right after second service. So go track Jordan down and she's got some things to share with you. Operation Christmas Child, a reminder that boxes are due the 17th. That's coming really quickly. So take note of that. And then Joe and Daniel, are you guys here? I saw you. I feel like there he is over there.

All right, Joe and Daniel, they've got a little announcement and their kids have a little announcement. No, no, it's just Joe and Danielle this time about the packing party this afternoon. The kids ditched us for their friends and children's church. Sorry. So we just wanted to come up and make a last announcement about our packing party that is going to be today from two to five at our place of residence, which is just here in Ark City,

Jacksonville. Just a little bit northwest of town. So this packing party, what we have is all of the supplies and boxes that you need to pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. The main reason we're wanting to do this is because a lot of things that you do for the kingdom or a lot of different mission trips and missions things, you've got to find childcare, put the kids off to the side, and then you or you and your spouse go and do something for the kingdom.

Well, this is something that you can do with your family, with your little kids to show them what serving the Lord looks like and disciple them in that. Not to say that if you don't have little ones, you're not invited. We have plenty of supplies for you to come and pack a shoebox, pack multiple shoeboxes, whatever you have time for this afternoon. There's also going to be some...

Crafts available to kind of make each of the shoeboxes a little bit unique. You can paint a yo-yo or color a bookmark. We've got an area set up where you can write a note or a letter to put in your shoebox. We've got some of those instant cameras where you can take a picture with your shoebox and then stick it in there so they can see who that stuff was coming from.

It's just going to be a lot of fun this afternoon. I hope that any of you that are available would show up at our place from 2 to 5 and pack a shoebox. What is the date? Jana, what is the date for the shoeboxes? The 17th. So whether you pack a shoebox today or whether you pack a shoebox on your own and bring it, you've got two weeks. It's coming up fast, so make sure that you get those and bring them on in.

And I want to give one last big thank you to all of you. Who have either already donated some to Operation Christmas Child to cover the shipping of the shoeboxes or have purchased or donated extra items to the packing party because without that this would not be happening. So thank you guys very much. Just to let you all know, we plan to probably pack about 100 shoeboxes today is kind of the goal.

And the shipping for all of those boxes has already been covered by you guys through your donations. So thank you. I think that's about it. I hope to see you at 2 o'clock. Okay. And then I did fail to say one thing and then I've got one other group to bring up here to announce a couple of things. If you are going on the Valdosta trip with Ross and Jana to go minister to the hurricane

relief there, Jana needs to visit with you for just a few minutes after church in the Cornerstone classroom. So now us showing the 1916 project has kind of sparked myself. I want to make sure that we let you all know that we care about kids before and after birth. I read this thing online the other day and it was supposed to be a slam on pro-life, but I actually agreed with what it said.

It said if you want to see a child born but don't want to see anyone care for it or help that child after it's born, you're pro-birth, not pro-life. And I can proudly say that we are not just pro-birth, we're pro-life because we supported an organization called Family Life Services. So if you guys just want to come on up, we support an organization called Family Life Services that is absolutely pro-life because they support moms in every stage of what they do. And so I invited them to come share with us about their ministry, that's the table that you saw up there, and how we can help out with them.

Hello, my name is Krista Wood. In July I took over as the director of Family Life Services and Melinda stepped in to take over all of our education. Family Life Services has been around for 40 years. We've been around for a long time. We've been around for a long time. We've been around for 40 years. We started as a crisis pregnancy center and we continue to serve in that capacity.

We are a pro-life, faith-based center that just comes alongside women who are in challenging positions and helps them understand their resources and what options are available. But that's not where it ends. We stay with them throughout their entire pregnancy. We will be there to support them after pregnancy when they're raising that child and have concerns as parents too.

So we do have a table out there. It has some contact cards on it. We are working really hard to build up our contact database. We have no contact information for people, and we're trying to get that established. So if you'll stop and fill out a contact card, we would appreciate it. I think that's all for me. It's your turn. Okay. My name is Melinda Evans, and as Krista said, I did take over the pregnancy education.

I also do parenting, and I also do anger management, and honestly, they all kind of go hand in hand. If you're moms, you kind of know. It's hard to... You get so frustrated with the little things. So anyways, I just want to encourage you to keep us in prayer. That's really the first and foremost. I mean, we always need volunteers. We always need, whether you're there for an hour or weekly or monthly, whatever it might

be, we have found that it's her and I and two other volunteers, and there's so much to do. But I love what Corrie Ten Boom said. I love it. I love what Corrie Ten Boom said. She goes, never be afraid of the unknown future to a known God. And so we're encouraged to continue and take the baton and see what God has through us and for the community as well. One of the other things in the pregnancy education, we've worked with another young lady who is

gonna start an Embrace Grace Bible study at another local church, and we want to encourage, if you want to get a volunteer with us. Okay. If you want to start with that as well, we would encourage you to be a part of that. It is a Bible study for single pregnant moms that just need that extra support. One of the things that we have found being alongside these girls, single, maybe living

with somebody, is they need a lifeline. And that's what prayer does, is the Lord stirs your heart to see what you can do if there's anything God's called on you to do. Just to be a lifeline. Just to be somebody that they can call. Somebody they know that will encourage and lift them up and build them up. So with that said, I'm just gonna share two quotes. It says, change doesn't come out without prayer, or doesn't happen without prayer.

There's no new way of doing things. Prayer is the only way things change. So that is what I call on you men and women here, just for prayer. We need prayer for our men that are in this community and women, young ladies. So thank you. All right. Thank you, ladies. Again, after the service, stop by and see them. Pick up some information. Fill out one of those cards and see how you can maybe get involved, either prayerfully

or in person. So, okay. 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 gonna be in Psalm 3. Psalm 3. Looking at the New American Standard for the responsive reading so that hopefully we all say the same thing at the same time. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you.

Okay. I'm turning to Psalm 3. If you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 3, a Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom, his son. Oh Lord, how my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, there is no deliverance for him in God.

Selah. But you, oh Lord, are a shield. My可 is nothing here, through your who herein be through you. You are my slave, and GOD the and man are Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing be upon your people. Selah. And Father, we come to you now, and I just love that verse, Lord, that you are a shield around us, the glory and the lifter of our heads. And so, Father, as we need that protection now from the world that is around us,

would you continue to do the work that only you can do in our hearts? And Father, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that you would speak to us by the power of your Holy Spirit. Father, that you would move in miraculous ways in our hearts and our lives, and that you would give us hearts that are ready for whatever comes next. In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5.

The end of chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians and the beginning of chapter 5 deal with end times events. At the end of chapter 5, chapter 4, we looked at the rapture, which was precipitated with a question about what happens to those who have died before the coming of the Lord. And he told them that those who die before the coming of the Lord, that we who are alive will not precede them, but that at the last moment, at the last trumpet, there will be a shout, the voice of the archangel, the dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the air, or to meet the Lord in the air, and we will be with the Lord forever. We refer to...

We refer to that as the rapture of the church, and we talked about that last week. And so last week, we said that we were going to live with expectation, expectation of that coming of the Lord for his church. It's called the doctrine of eminence, that that second coming could come at any point in time. But today, we're going to look at the day of the Lord, which has more to do with the judgment period that will take place after the rapture of the church.

And so while last week, we wanted to live with expectation, the title of the message this week is living in preparation. Living in preparation. And so we pick up in verse 1 of chapter 5, and it says this. Now, as to the times in the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

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

but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night. Those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and at night we will not sleep. And as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. And so again, there's three things he's going to tell us here. He's going to tell us about the day of the Lord. He's going to tell us who you are, and he's going to tell us what you should do.

And so first of all, let's start talking about the day of the Lord. He says, Those are two different words that are used there. The word times has to do with a length of time, and the word epochs or season has to do with a particular time. So whether it's time in general or a specific time, like the day of the Lord, that he's about to talk about, he says, I really don't need to write to you because I have already taught you about these things.

Again, it's a pretty fascinating thing that for the amount of time that Paul spent in Thessalonica, he spent an incredible amount of time clearly talking to them about the second coming of Christ and about the day of the Lord, the time of judgment that would come after the church is taken out. That was why he had to explain the rapture to them, because he'd spent a great deal of time talking to them about the day of the Lord. And so they didn't need much preparation about the time. Because they were paying attention to the times.

They were watching the times that were about them. And he's going to encourage them to continue to do so. But I want to remind us of something. Sometimes in the world that we live in today, and in the church that we are a part of today, this 21st century church today, we can't say there's no need to write to you about the times and the seasons, brethren. Because quite frankly, sometimes I think as the church,

we need to be reminded of the times and the seasons. Matter of fact, one of the things that Jesus was so upset about with the religious leaders, is that they did not know how to discern the signs of the times. He says, you can discern the sky and know what the weather's going to be like, but you can't discern the signs of the times. What did he mean by that?

Well, you see, if they had been able to discern the signs of the times, they would have known that it was time for the first coming of Christ to take place, because of all of the prophecies that had been given, because of all of the things that had been taking place. They should have been prepared for that. And I think that if Jesus were to say one thing to the church today, he would say, you know how to determine the signs of the weather, but you do not know how to determine the signs of the times. Because brothers and sisters, the signs are there.

The signs of the times are all around us. And we need to pay attention to those things, because God is making it very clear what's coming. And so he says, I really don't need to write to you about these things, for you yourselves know that the day of the Lord will come, just like a thief in the night. Now he brings up this subject. He says, because you know about the day of the Lord.

Well, if you're a good studier of the Bible, and if you're not yet, I want to teach you something. The best thing you can do when you come across something like the day of the Lord is to ask yourself a question. What is the day of the Lord? See, Bible study is really not that hard. It's a very logical thing that you do. What is the day of the Lord? Well, we're not going to go a whole bunch of different places in Scripture

because of time this morning, but I want you to know something. The day of the Lord is something that is spoken of a great deal in the Old Testament. Matter of fact, if you're reading through the one-year Bible with us, well, I'm a little bit behind. The rest of you are in Jeremiah. I just finished Isaiah, because I'm a little slower than the other kids sometimes.

But you know that in Isaiah, that phrase, the day of the Lord, came up a lot throughout the book of Isaiah. As a matter of fact, it not only comes up a lot in Isaiah, but it comes up a lot in the book of Joel, and it comes up a lot in the book of Zechariah. And that day of the Lord is not speaking of a 24-hour day. It's speaking of a period of time when God will begin to move in incredibly tangible ways in the world.

I believe that it will start with the rapture of the church. I think that according to what I have seen in Scripture, to what I've studied in Scripture, that's what will start the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord will then carry into that seven-year tribulational period that will be a time of God pouring out His wrath on an unbelieving world that has rejected Him, pouring out His wrath on an apostate Israel, and bringing about a national repentance for Israel. Israel returning to the Lord as He begins to deal once again with Israel, because the times of the Gentiles, like we talked about last week, will be finished.

And He will once again begin to deal with the nation of Israel. It will carry through the tribulational time, and it will continue on with Jesus' return to earth. And after Jesus returns to earth, He will establish a thousand-year reign that is called the millennium. The millennial kingdom, or the millennial reign, at which point in time Satan will be bound for a thousand years, and everything in the world will be as perfect as it can be.

And at the end of that thousand years, Satan will be loosed, and he will ultimately be defeated, finally and forever. And we will be with the Lord forever. That's what he means when he talks about the day of the Lord. He says, but you need to understand something about the day of the Lord. He says, you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come

just like a thief in the night. In other words, the day of the Lord will come unexpected. It will come in an unexpected time. And that's something that's true both of the rapture and of the time of judgment, is that it comes in a very unexpected time. That's why we are always to live with expectation, and we are always to live in preparation, because we don't know when that's going to come.

He goes on to say, because while they are saying peace and safety, destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains upon a woman with child. It will not only come unexpectedly, it will come suddenly. And it will come when everybody thinks everything just got figured out. What does he mean by that? Well, we're told in Daniel chapter 9, that when that 70th week of Daniel begins,

that we talked about last week, often times referred to as the tribulation period, that I believe is started by the rapture of the church, there will be a covenant or a peace treaty that is signed. There will be a world leader that will emerge upon the scene and say, I have a plan. And he will be able to establish peace. He will be the first one to bring peace in the Middle East.

And he will establish political peace. He will establish economic peace. And he will establish religious peace. Some call that the three-legged stool. As a matter of fact, just for fun one of these days, just Google three-legged stool plan. And you'll be fascinated not only where that plan came from, but what that plan has to say. It's kind of an interesting thing.

But that's what he'll be able to do. He'll say, finally, we have solved it. Everything is perfect. They will say, peace and safety. But then sudden destruction. Because that antichrist will begin to tell everybody, you should worship me as God. And at that point in time, wrath will be unleashed upon the world like has never been seen before. That's why it's called the time of Jacob's trouble.

And it will be unleashed suddenly. Do you notice how he described it? Like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant. Now listen, I don't know if you realize this. I've never actually had a baby myself. News to everyone, but I haven't. But I've been a part of this situation twice, right? And I know something about what it's like when they go into labor, right?

And they were very different for both of our girls. But it was kind of an interesting thing. So when my oldest daughter was born, she was born real early. Yeah, she was born early in the morning. And we went to bed the night before knowing something's coming. We just don't know when. We can sense that this baby is about, partly because she was two days past due.

But we know something's coming. And at 11 o'clock when my wife almost broke my hand, I thought, now's the time, right? This must be the time. And we knew it. It came upon her suddenly. It's like we knew it was coming, but we didn't know exactly when. And then suddenly it came upon us. Of course, Nora came. I was all ready for work. I just got myself ready to work.

I was going to go teach a class at Arc City Christian Academy. And all of a sudden, Aaron goes, it's time. And I'm like, it's time? He's like, it's time, right? It happened suddenly. And that's what he says is going to happen. Not only will it be unexpected like a thief in the night, but it will be sudden like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant. The last thing I want to point out to you is that not only will it be sudden,

not only will it be unexpected, but it will be inescapable. Notice what it says at the end of verse 3. And they will not escape. I want to point out something about this verse. You may have known that the pronouns switched. Instead of it being you and me, it's they and them, right? Why? Because it's referring to somebody, somebody besides Paul. Paul says, you Thessalonian believers, me,

we are not going to be here for this day of the Lord. We are not going to be here for them saying that there is peace and safety and then sudden destruction. We will not be here for any of that. Why? Because the church will be gone. That's why the pronouns switched in that next verse. He says, they will not escape. And can I tell you, there are a few verses in all of scripture that are quite as sobering

as that verse right there. There is coming a day of wrath and judgment. And the people that are here for the day of wrath and judgment can't escape. Brothers and sisters, if there is any more purifying verse in the Bible, I challenge you to show it to me. That we make sure that we are ready for what comes. That we make sure that we are ready for the second coming of Christ.

Because I don't want to be a part of the they will not escape. And so he tells them about this day of the Lord. But the second thing he tells them is he says, but this is who you are. Notice what it says in verse 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness.

First of all, he tells us what we are not. We are not in darkness. We are not ignorant of spiritual realities. We are not like the rest of the world in that way. We are not living in the darkness of sin. We are not living in the darkness of those who are unsaved. We are all hopefully seeing the things that are going on in the world around us. We are all hopefully seeing the salvation that we are all waiting for.

We are hopefully all paying attention to what's happening because it says you are not in darkness. Therefore don't live like people in darkness, right? No, what are you instead? You are sons of the light and sons of the day. Now, any time in ancient scripture or in ancient writings, in scripture, the phrase sons of is mentioned, what it speaks of is having the characteristics of

or bearing the characteristics of. That's why when Jesus is referred to in the gospels as the son of God and the son of man, it speaks of him having the characteristics of God, meaning that he has deity, and the characteristics of man, speaking of his humanity. So what he tells us here is that you are sons of the light. You bear the characteristics of the light.

In other words, you are not in darkness anymore. Your eyes have been opened. You're not in darkness anymore. You have been illuminated by the truth of the gospel. So you're not going to have to worry about the day of the Lord. But there is still some preparation that we should do. There are some things that we should still be aware of. And so he goes on to tell us, last of all,

what you should do. And he tells us three things. Starting in verse six he says, Let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. So the first thing he's going to tell us that we should do, since we know that there's a day of the Lord coming, since we know that it's going to come like a thief,

it's going to come unexpected, sudden, and there will be no escape. Since you are the children of light, and so this shouldn't take you unawares, first of all, be alert and sober. He says to be alert and sober. He says let us not sleep as others do. Now the kind of sleeping that he's talking about here is not like what we talked about last week, which indicated death.

What he means is spiritual lethargy and apathy. And can I just say that while the church are all children of light, not children of darkness, there are many who are children of light, either today or asleep. Because there are so many people in the church today that are sleeping. Not just some of you that are about to get your picture taken and posted on Instagram right now.

I'm just kidding. By the way, somebody did send me a picture of a baby sleeping last week. I was like, oh, that one's pretty sweet. That one's a good time to fall asleep. But there are so many people in the church today that are asleep, and they're not paying attention. They are spiritually lethargic and spiritually apathetic. And we forget that the times are drawing near.

And it is time for us as the church to wake up. And it's time for us as the church to pay attention. To pay attention to the spiritual battle that's going on around us. To pay attention to the spiritual warfare that's happening around us. To pay attention to the signs of the times. To pay attention to the lost souls that are all going to hell if somebody doesn't share the truth of Jesus Christ with them.

To pay attention to the fact that there are people who are brand new as believers in Jesus Christ, and we can't just leave them as babies. We can't make them disciples. We've got to open our eyes. We've got to wake up. You've got to quit being asleep as the church. And I promise you, I'm talking to me too. We as the church have got to wake up. Well, what causes us to sleep?

What is it that causes so many in the church to be asleep today? Well, I think that there's two main things. Two main words that I'm going to spend a little bit of time talking about. Distractions and sin. Distractions and sin. Somebody showed me a little picture earlier before first service, and I thought, that's a perfect addition to what I have to share this morning.

And it was a symbol for ACDC, only it said ADHD on the highway to, oh, look, there's a squirrel. Right? And so I read that, and I was like, oh, my gosh, that is so me. I'm so that guy. I still get distracted that easily. But you know what? We're all kind of like that, spiritually speaking, aren't we? Man, have you ever been in that moment where you just caught up in the Spirit,

got your hands raised, pointed out to Jesus, maybe in your devotional time, pointed out to Jesus, and then you get distracted? That thought hits you. You get that text, that notification on your phone, or you see that thing that you're supposed to be doing, and you went from enraptured in the things of the Spirit to distracted by the things of the world. Well, brothers and sisters, I think that that's a real problem that we have as a church, and it's causing us to be asleep.

You see, Paul tells us, or the writer to the Hebrews tells us, that we, because we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, should lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. The weight that he's talking about in Hebrews 12, verse 1, is those things that are not necessarily bad, but they are not helpful. They are distractions. Because discernment is the ability to determine the difference between that which is okay and that which is best.

Athletes have to do this all the time. In their lives. People have to do, or business people have to do this all the time in their lives. Yes, I can do that, but it's not going to help me. And as believers in Jesus Christ, if we don't start laying aside the distractions, then we'll always be asleep. We will always be asleep at the wheel, because those distractions

keep taking our attention away from that which is most important. And listen, I don't know what your distractions are, and I bet they're different than mine. You don't know what my distractions are, and I guarantee they're different than yours. The only one that can identify those in our lives is the Holy Spirit. So we need to start offering every bit of us to the Lord and saying,

Lord, where am I distracted? Lord, what's pulling me away from a spiritual focus? What's getting me focused on the world, instead of keeping me focused on you? And then it's time to put away the distractions from our lives. It's time to lay aside the weight that impairs us. But then the second thing that I think ends up causing us to go to sleep is sin. And I would love to give you a great definition for the word sin,

but sin is just sin. And that's what he tells us that we have to lay aside. Matter of fact, other places in Scripture tell us that we have to put it to death. Why? Why do we have to put sin to death? Well, first of all, because it's the very thing you've been delivered from. And if you've been delivered from it, why are you going to continue to walk in it? It's the very thing that was leading you to death

and brought you to the place of going, I need a Savior in my life because sin has left me destitute, sin has left me broken, sin has left me bankrupt, and so I want to come to Jesus as my Savior. That's what left you destitute, broken, and bankrupt. And Jesus has set you free from it. Why are you going back to it? Why are you continuing to go back to that same thing?

It's time to lay that thing aside and realize that it's the cancer that's killing you, not the thing that's bringing you the most joy. And so we have to lay aside the sin. For those of us that have worked with our hands over the years, not as much anymore, not as many callouses as I used to, but for those of us that worked with our hands over the years, you know that the first time that you start swinging a hammer, using a shovel, swinging a sledgehammer, something interesting happens to your hands. You first of all get a blister.

That's where it starts. And it's kind of painful. You get this blister. But you've got to keep working. You've got to keep doing what you do, and eventually that blister turns into what? A blister turns into a callous. It started off as pain, but now that pain has turned into a hardening of the skin, and now you don't feel it anymore. And now you can continue to work because there's no feeling

on that part of your hand anymore. That's what sin does to us, friends. You see, the first time you give into it, it kind of hurts, right? It gives you a blister, and you go, man, that hurts, but the more that you do it, the more that you give into that sin, that which at one point in time hurts becomes calloused over, and now you don't feel anymore. Or let me put it to you this way.

You go to sleep. And there are too many people in the church today that are living in sin while they're also trying to pursue the Lord, and what they've done is they've developed callouses. You have developed a sleepy heart, and now you're not paying attention to the things that are going on around you. And I'm here to tell you right now, if that's you this morning, if you've been living in sin and trying to pursue God at the same time, if you've developed those callouses that sin has created in your life, then today is the day to cut it off.

Today is the day to lay it aside, because brothers and sisters, the day of the Lord is coming. And we need to know this. We need to be aware of this. Because these aren't just stories that I'm telling. This is the reality that we're living in. And I don't know what this next week is going to hold, but I'm here to tell you right now, I don't think it's going to be good.

I don't think whoever wins this next election, it's going to end in a real pretty sort of way. I personally see protests coming. I see riots coming. I don't care who wins. I don't care which direction it goes. I think that's what's going to take place. I think it's going to be a real ugly situation. We as the church need to be prepared. We can't go into this week asleep.

We can't go into this week spiritually lethargic, to the spiritual realm that is around us. Because listen, we're not fighting a battle against flesh and blood. We are fighting against principalities, against powers, against spiritual forces in heavenly places. And we have to fight on a spiritual plane. We have to fight in a spiritual way. We have to be aware of what's going on around us.

And that means, brothers and sisters, it's time to wake up. He says, Be alert and be sober, so let us not sleep as others do. Be alert and to be sober. What does it mean to be alert? It means to be watchful and vigilant. To be watchful and vigilant. In other words, keep paying attention. Keep watch. Don't give up. Don't stop. To be watchful and to be vigilant.

The word sober means to have a proper value of things. Or, and some of your translations may even say this, be self-controlled. Be self-controlled. You see, part of being mature is learning some self-control, is it not? Now, being sober doesn't mean that you can't ever have fun. It doesn't mean that you can't have humor. It doesn't mean that you can't be passionate about life.

I actually think just the very opposite. It just means you know when it's time to get serious. I've had lots of classes over the years when I taught at Arc City Christian Academy. I like to joke and I like to laugh and I like to have fun, but I always knew that there were classes that could handle that and classes that couldn't, right? There were classes that could handle it.

They knew when it was time to laugh and when it was time to get serious and get stuff done. And there were other classes that only knew when it was time to laugh. They couldn't identify the word serious if it smacked them in the face and called them Susie, right? Like, they just couldn't. And so you had to know that. Well, we need to be the ones who know when it's time to have fun

and when it's time to get serious. Because sometimes I think right now it's time to get serious. And to be sober. Why? Because those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk, get drunk at night. Those are characteristics of the night. And you are not of the night. You are of the day. Because you are a son of the light. So don't keep living like it's dark all around you.

Start living like children of light. So number one, he says to be sober and to be alert. Number two, he tells us to put on the armor. Verse eight. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. He says, put on the armor. The child of the light put on armor that goes with the light, right? And so he tells us two main pieces of armor, but the first one has two aspects to it. He says, first of all, put on the breastplate. Now remember, the breastplate would have covered

the midsection of the body, and it covers all of the vital organs. So it was a great place of protection and a place that needed protected from the arrows of the enemy, from the attacks of the enemy. And so he says, the best way that you can cover your vital organs, particularly your heart, and the breastplate has two parts to it. Number one is faith. We have to be able to have faith in God,

because faith in God, first of all, deals with our anxiety. It deals with our anxiety. And brothers and sisters, I know that one of the greatest things sweeping across the culture right now is anxiety. And listen, the news that we watch doesn't help. I read a lot of news, and I go to different websites because I don't just want to go to websites that I agree with.

Partly because I like to check my blood pressure every now and then, but also because I want to know what other people are having to say. I just love it. Because whichever website you go to, if they're conservative, they will tell you that the world is ending and it's the Democrats' fault. If you go to a liberal website, they will tell you the world is ending and it's all the Republicans' fault.

And then if you go to a Christian website, they will tell you the world is ending and it's all the Democrats' and the Republicans' fault. But always, whichever one you read, they all tell you the same thing. The world is going to end. And everybody's going, what's going to happen? And they're all stressed out. Everybody's anxious about everything that's going on.

And you know what's really funny? The Bible says don't be anxious about anything. And what do the news sites tell you you should be? Anxious. Be fearful. Because everything's going to end. The Bible says everything's going to end, but don't be stressed about it because you know the God who's in control. And sometimes we have to remember and have that faith because God has a plan

in everything that's taking place in our lives. And nothing, I mean nothing, comes into your life without first being filtered through the hands of a loving God. And I know every now and then we're like, I wish it was a little thicker filter. But nothing comes into your life without it being for your best and without God using it for your good. And your faith in God

is one of the greatest ways that you can be protected from the anxiety of life. I don't understand what's going on, but that's okay because God's still God and I am not. And I don't need to be worried about that. Who's going to win the election? I don't know, but God's still God and I am not. And neither is anybody in the White House. What's going to happen with the economy?

I have no idea, but God's still God and I am not. And I can rest in that. And there are some of you in here this morning that life has hit like a Mack truck. And you're going, I don't know what to do next. And I just want you to know, God is still God. You are still not. And He is still in control. And so first of all, that breastplate of faith allows you to be protected from anxiety.

But it also allows you to continue to pursue God no matter what's going on. And it allows you to be that witness to the rest of the world around us. So we put on the breastplate of faith. But he tells us there's a second aspect that we need over our vital organs. And that's love. We need to put on the breastplate of love. And when he talks about love, he's talking about love for other people.

Do you know that one of the most protected places you can be is if you are showing love to the world around you? Because there's just real protection in that. Why? Because that's what God tells us to do. And the safest place for us to be is in the will of God. Because if I am showing love to the people around me, it's a whole lot harder to have bitterness towards them.

It's a whole lot harder to not show grace. See, Jesus told us that they will know that you're my disciples by the love that you have for each other. And that's where it starts, is learning to love each other, learning to love the other members of the body of Christ. And you'll find that there's great protection in that. Your heart is protected when you're showing love

to other people. But do you know Jesus told us that love doesn't just end with the people that we agree with. We don't like to hear that in this culture because we're like, nope, people I agree with, right? That's kind of how we live our lives right now. And that's crept into the church. But what did Jesus tell us? He said, you have heard that it's said that you should

love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemy. Pray for them. Do good to them. In so doing, you will ultimately be a blessing to them. What it actually says is you will heat coals of fire on their head, and most people go, ha, that's right, burn them down. That's not what it means. It means ultimately you will bless them, and that's a good thing.

But there's great protection in that. There are all kinds of people in the world that I guarantee that you disagree with, and you know what they need to know? That you love them. But Ryan, they vote differently than me. I don't care. Love them anyway. But Ryan, they believe differently than me. I don't care. Love them anyway. Because there's great protection

for our hearts with that. Our hearts are clean before each other. And it's amazing what love does to change the people that are around us. He says, put on the breastplate of faith. Faith in God. And put on the breastplate of love. Love for other people. But then he tells us there's one other thing that we need to put on. We need to put on as a helmet the hope of salvation.

Put on as a helmet the hope of salvation. Why does he tell us that? Because all of your battles of doubt begin. They begin right up here. They begin right up here. And that's where all of those battles begin. And you have to keep telling yourself the truth because Satan's telling you lies. You have to keep telling yourself the truth because the enemy's telling you lies.

Because the world is telling you lies. And you have to fill your head with so much truth on such a consistent basis. And so you have to wear on your head the helmet of the hope of salvation. Because every day you have to remind yourself, I belong to Jesus. And no one can ever change that. It's been a little while since I've shared this. I hope. Otherwise I just repeat myself every week.

I don't know. I'm getting older. I can't ever tell the difference. But when I was really battling with where I was in Christ in my walk with the Lord, I received an old wrestling magazine. I was still signed up to receive things from this thing called USA Wrestling. So I got this thing in the mail. And I know I've shared this before. So please bear with me if you've heard it.

I got this thing in the mail. It was like a little poster. And the poster was of a wrestler. And it was pretty cool. It said, I wrestle, not against my opponent. I wrestle against my doubts, my fears, and the unending voice in my head that tells me to quit. But at the end of the day, I am a wrestler. And that's what I do. And I always thought that was kind of a cool quote.

Only I took that and I erased the part, or I covered over the part that said wrestler. And I wrote born again. Because I thought, you know, that's a pretty good quote for those of us as believers in Jesus Christ. But the enemy lies to you and tells you you've not done it good enough. The enemy lies to you and tells you you don't really belong to Jesus. You can never be loved by God.

And so you have to put on that helmet of the hope of salvation. And the way that you do that is every day you have to wake up and say, I wrestle, not against an opponent, but I wrestle against my doubts, my fears, and the unending voice in my head that tells me to quit. But at the end of the day, I am. And that's what you have to hold on to. Every day you have to tell yourself that.

You have to remind yourself of that because the enemy is telling you the opposite. That's why you put on your head the hope of salvation. So that you can remind yourself of who you are in Christ. But not only that, when we put on the helmet for the hope of salvation, it keeps us focused. It keeps our minds focused. Focused on the main thing. Because again, believers in Jesus Christ,

we keep our eyes off of the main thing. If you don't believe me, just tune in to any conversation between Christians at any point in time. And they will start debating over everything in the world. And you have to find yourself going, can't we just keep it focused on the main thing? Yes, we can. Because that's what putting on the helmet of the hope of salvation does for us.

It keeps us focused on the main thing. And so he tells us to put on this armor. But why does he tell us again about this hope of salvation? Because I want you to notice what it says in verse 9. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. What a... If the verse about none of them will escape is one of the more sobering verses in the Bible,

then this verse is one of the most hopeful verses in the Bible. Because we were not destined for wrath. See, Jesus took all that on himself. So you don't need to experience it. And I believe that the wrath that he's talking about here is the wrath of the tribulation. Ryan, don't you think he's probably talking about hell? I do think that's one aspect of wrath

that we get to escape. But in the context of what he's talking about here, which is the day of the Lord, that's what he's talking about. He's talking about escaping the wrath. He says, you and I were not destined for wrath. Because that's what's going to happen to the world. And again, a sobering point for us to remember as believers in Jesus Christ and there will be many who say, no, that's not true.

Peter told us that would happen. He said, as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the coming of the Son of Man. They didn't believe God was pouring out his wrath then, and they're not going to believe it in the future. But God did it then, and he'll do it again. And we need to remember that. It should be a sobering point for us with the world around us,

but a hopeful point for who we are as believers in Jesus Christ. We're not destined for that kind of wrath. Instead, what are we destined for? Salvation. That's God's plan for us is salvation. What does he mean when he says destined for salvation? Well, salvation has three different tenses throughout the New Testament. The word is used kind of three different ways.

The first is a past tense. You have been saved, right? That's what happened the day that you came to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You were saved. You were saved, sanctified, sealed, whole nine yards, as saved as you'll ever be. But right now, you are being saved. You are in the process of becoming in practice who you are and you are in position. We call that sanctification.

But there will come a day when you will be saved. We call that glorification. In the book of Romans, Paul says we are waiting for the redemption of the bodies. The redemption of our bodies. That's glorification when we are set free from the presence of sin and we are in the presence of God. That's what he means here when he says you were not destined for wrath.

You were destined for salvation. That's what God has intended for you. The salvation that comes, why? It comes through Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. I love that he brings us back around to that centrality of the gospel message again. That Jesus died for us. Because that central message that runs throughout all of scripture

is the most important message in the Bible. The most important message in the Bible. That Jesus died for you. That Christ died for sinners of whom I am the chief. That Christ died for sinners of whom I am the worst. And yet because of the great love that he has for me, even when I was dead in trespasses and sins, Christ died for me. Do you know what the thing that we'll see

in the book of Revelation tells us? We will see the Lamb of God as if he had been slaughtered. And we will see his hands that were pierced for us. And his feet that were pierced for us. Why? Because we are reminded that the central message of the gospel is the death of Christ for us. Because he loved you that much. He says, because he died for us. So that whether we wake or sleep,

whether we're awake or asleep, we will live together with him. You see, in the Old Testament, the children of Israel were always making sacrifices. Animal sacrifices. And those sacrifices, year after year, would cover their sin. But when Jesus came, he made the ultimate sacrifice. The final sacrifice that didn't just cover sin for another year, but wiped away sin

for all time. And because that sin has been wiped away for all time, you and I get to live with him forever. And that's the hope that we have. And that brings us to the last command. He's told us, number one, that we are to be alert and sober because we don't want to sleep as others do. We want to be watchful. We want to be vigilant. And we need to put on the armor.

We need to have faith and love covering us. We need to be protected by the helmet of salvation because we're not destined for wrath. We are instead destined for salvation because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. But now, number three, we are to encourage one another. Notice what it says in verse 11. We are to encourage one another and build up one another

just as you also are doing. We're supposed to encourage one another. So the word encourage is a familiar word that we've seen throughout the book of 1 Thessalonians. It's that parakletos, which means called to one side. Again, the idea is there that we need to be coming alongside each other, putting our arm around each other, whether physically or metaphorically,

depending on if you're a hugger. We need to come alongside each other, and if we do that, Jesus wins. Don't forget. Don't forget that we're going to be with him forever. Don't forget that this place is not our home. This place is not it because there's something else. This is not going to last forever. My oldest daughter got her wisdom teeth out the other day. Praise Jesus, right?

Like, I just love dental procedures. And, you know, she hurts and she just wants a cheeseburger and all the things. And luckily, Erin and I have been through this before, so we can go and we can put our arm around her and we can say, it's okay. This won't last forever. I promise you, you will not be in this much pain forever. I promise you, you will be able to eat a cheeseburger again.

And I don't know if it helps a lot in the moment, but it's the best that we can do. That's what we need to be doing for each other. Putting our arm around each other and saying, I know what the end of the game looks like. I know what the end of the score is. Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep pursuing. Because we are to encourage each other. But then the second thing we're supposed to do

is to build one another up. Some of your translations may say, edify one another, but that translation of the New American Standard is perfect. To build one another up. What does he mean by that? He means that you should be pouring into the lives of each other. And I don't know how many different ways, shapes, and forms I can say this, although I feel like I say it every Sunday

and I don't do it on purpose. It's because this is what the Holy Spirit keeps doing. He keeps telling me to tell you guys to build one another up. Unfortunately, churches, not necessarily this church because I think we do a pretty good job in this church for the most part. Unfortunately, churches can sometimes be places that tear each other down. They fail to show grace.

Sometimes Christians can be the best at eating their own. And when you see someone fall, to then trample them. And when you see someone stumble, to finish knocking them down. But as the church, we're to do the very opposite of that. We are to build each other up. Comfort one another. Encourage one another. Build each other up. Give each other positive messages.

Send each other prayers. Take time to pray with each other. Take time to encourage one another. But we need to build each other up. Because listen, the world wants to tear us down. Sin wants to tear us down. The enemy wants to tear us down. All we have is each other. And I love that he says, just as you also are doing. In other words, they were already doing this.

He goes, but keep doing it. Like Paul did with the Thessalonians. That's how I feel here. For the most part, I feel like we do a great job as a church of building each other up. I see little pockets of people get together for prayer. I see little pockets of people get together. All the ladies made some sort of crafty thing yesterday. And it looked like they had a great time together.

And I get to eat the snacks later. And so, I feel like we do a pretty good job of building each other up like that. But listen, we can always do better. Have those eyes open. Have those hearts available. Be there for each other as we build each other up. As you're doing, continue to do the same. And so, he tells us about this day of the Lord. That there's coming a time

when wrath is coming upon the earth. But you're not of the night. You're sons of the light. And so, your eyes are open to what's going on. Therefore, be alert, be sober, put on the armor, and encourage one another. Amen? Well, this morning is Communion Sunday. And so, I'd like to invite the worship team to come up. I see some kids start coming down the hallway here.

Are they coming? Does that mean they're small kids or they're close to coming? Okay. So, in just a moment, all the kids are going to start cruising through there. Keep an eye on yours as they head through there. But we're about to partake in communion together. So, while we're waiting for them, I'll remind us of what we're doing here. So, inside of each of these trays,

there are a couple of cups. The top cup has the juice. The bottom cup has the water. The bottom cup has the cracker. So, those are powerful, symbolic things for us as believers. Bookmark. Here they come. Come on in, kids. Alright, keep an eye out for little people. I thought maybe they'd carry a Dr. Pepper again. Over here, Heidi. Is that all of them? Perfect.

So, again, the elements are inside these cups here. So, let's take just a moment because Scripture tells us that when we partake in communion, that we should do so in a worthy manner because every time we do so, we declare the death of the Lord. So, again, there's two elements. There's the bread and the juice. And that bread, of course, represents the body of Jesus Christ.

On that last great night of the feast, he took the bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body which is broken for you. Again, we talked about the fact that Jesus died for us. And so, when we think about that bread, I want you to think about exactly what Jesus did for us. That he endured for us. That he endured the nails in his hands and the nail in his feet.

That he endured the piercing of his side, the crown of thorns on his head and the scourging that he took on his back. And he did that all for us. Isaiah 53 tells us that he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was laid upon him and by his stripes we are healed. And so, as you partake of the bread, I want you to be reminded

that it represents the body of Jesus Christ. It was broken for us. And then there's that cup. On that last night of the feast, Jesus took the cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant of my blood that is shed for you. And we are reminded in the Old Testament, we were told that there's only one way that sin could be covered and that was through blood.

And for them it was the blood of bulls and goats. It was covered for all time. And he shed his blood for us. The blood that doesn't just cover our sin, it takes away our sin. So we are reminded that that is his blood that was shed for us. So as you partake, if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, then I would really encourage you,

if you're going to partake in this meal, that should really take place first. Maybe as you have listened, you've thought, you know what, I've kind of been asleep, but I'm going to do what the rest of the world does. And today's the day for you to give your heart to Jesus. To ask him to forgive you of your sins and that he would become your savior. And then you can truly understand

the celebration of communion. If you're here this morning and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, we are reminded that while sin does not lose us our salvation, it does break our fellowship with God. So what a beautiful time to take a little bit of time to start to see if there are areas of your life that there's unconfessed sin. That if there are callouses that have developed in your life because of sin, to get rid of those.

To get rid of the distractions and give those things to Jesus. So as the worship team plays this last song, the ushers are going to come down and they're going to hand out the elements. When you receive yours, stand and we'll partake together. But allow God to take this time to really search your heart. And let's pray.

Let all the earth rejoice, let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice. He wraps himself in darkness, he tries to hide. He trembles at his voice, he trembles at his voice. He's our God, sing with me. He's our God, sing with me. He's our God, sing with me. He's our God, Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you now. Father, thanking you for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Father, I thank you for his body that was broken for us. Broken for the sins of the world. Lord, for the beatings that you endured. But more than anything, Lord, for being willing to take in your own body on the tree all of the sins of humanity. What an overwhelming thought. Lord, we praise you for your body that was broken for us. Father, I thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ that is enough to cover sin.

Lord, the precious blood that flowed from your side. Lord, the blood that makes us as white as snow. Father, I praise you for the sacrifice of Jesus. Lord, keep us ever in mind of the greatness of the love that you have for us. We praise you for who you are, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake. Let's partake together.

And if you'd bow with me one last time. Father, we come to you and we thank you that we've been able to spend time together as a family. Father, that we've been able to spend time together in your word. And I pray that your word would continue to sink deeply into our hearts. Lord, that we would be people who are prepared for whatever comes next. By the power of your Holy Spirit, through the knowledge of your word.

Lord, move in our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.