Instructions, Part 1

has adopted sons and daughters. The work you've done for us on the cross as you redeemed us from your shed blood. So we give you praise and thanks this morning, Lord. We come to you just as we are.

That which is right in your sight and of ourselves, we are not able, but you transform us. Just think of that scripture, Romans 12, 1 and 2. He seeks you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, our act of worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed.

And you may know what is that perfect.

Yes, Lord, we trust you, we thank you.

It begins drawing us. We hear a message. We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing draws us to you. We thank you, we praise you, Lord. And we thank you, Lord, that you are faithful.

No matter what our situation is, we can trust you. Whatever the matter that lies before, when we're afraid, encouragement, when we find ourselves being sad, you bring about, in our weakness, you are made strong.

I became a Christian. I just didn't have peace in everything I tried. Oh, you are so faithful, Lord. We praise you. Would you all stand? We sing this in you, Jesus.

And so now, as Pastor Ryan will be coming up after our fellowship time to teach your word, would you anoint him with your blessing on the children's church teachers there at the other end of the hall, too, to teach the youngsters those things about you. Give the youngsters listening ears, Lord.

And we lift up those babies in the nursery. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Good morning.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us. I'll tell you what I told first service. If I had happy face stickers, I'd give every one of you a happy face sticker because I'm so proud of you for being here this morning. And if we put this service together with first service, we'd have a typical first service. So, that's it. It's good. I'm glad.

Hey, listen, if y'all are watching online, I love you. I'm glad you stayed home because it's pretty nasty outside. So, a few things to go over. Most everything's back in action this week now that we're back to real life after Christmas time. The only change is that there's no intercessory prayer tonight just because the weather's still gonna be pretty gnarly

and get kind of chilly. And then there's no ladies' study tomorrow night, partly because of the weather, partly because Teresa Moore is still getting over illness. So, pray for her if you think about it. But other than that, everything's back in action. And then, ladies, there is a women's breakfast next Saturday at 8 o'clock at Steamy Joe's if you're interested in going to that.

So, those are the things that are going on that are in your bulletin. Oh, and don't forget that the reading plan is over on the side of the bulletin there. So far, so good. Everybody with me so far? You're right. Four or five days. We're still rolling. That's good. Before we get into our responsive reading and our message, though, this morning, Jared and Alyssa, you guys want to come on up?

And then if I could have my board members come up. Gene, if you're in the hall and you can hear me, could you come up as well? There he is. Man, it's the speaker in the hallway. It works. So, well, you can't tell it this morning, but church is growing. And we've needed to add to staff. And a couple of different things have been going on. Number one, dad's going to be stepping down

from being the worship leader. He's still going to be helping out, but he's going to be stepping down from actually handling all of the worship ministry. And our youth group has been growing pretty massively. And so, we've kind of needed some help with youth group and then somebody to be here with me during the day. And so, to help out with the day-to-day things.

And so, we are going to be bringing Jared Doyle on full-time staff. As an associate pastor here at Calvary. And he is going to be the associate pastor of worship and youth ministry. He's going to be taking over the high school youth ministry. Tristan will become the junior high youth director. And so, we're really excited about this. Excited that we get to expand the staff.

Excited that we get to minister to the body a little bit more effectively. But we wanted to bring Jared and Alyssa up. And we wanted to lay hands on them and pray for them with this new position that God is moving Jared into. So, if you would join us in prayer. Father, we come before you, Lord. And Father, I just thank you for the anointing that we have seen on Jared.

Lord, I thank you for the calling that you have on his life to serve in this way. And so, Father, as he is being elevated to this position of associate pastor, Lord, I just pray that you would prepare the way for him. Father, I just pray for that fresh filling, fresh anointing of your Holy Spirit. As he takes on this new ministry role. As he becomes an associate pastor.

And that you would give him all of the giftings and abilities that he needs to be able to do so. Father, that you would just fill him afresh with that power of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, we lift up Alyssa as she comes alongside him. Lord, as his wife, that you would give her everything that she needs to support him in this ministry. And Father, that you would continue to bless the ministry

here at Calvary Chapel. That we would continue to get out the truth of your word to the people so that people can grow in you. And so, Father, we just pray your blessing. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, I'm excited. See you in the morning. Don't be late. I know the weather's bad. But if you're late, you're fired. Very good. Well, like I said, we're really excited about that.

And then the other thing is that we finally got all of our plans approved for our expansion of the building that we're going to be doing. And they've actually started just a little bit of the construction on that. So in the next few weeks, a lot should be taking place with getting the expansion done on the building. We're waiting on a couple of bids to come in for some things but good things are going on here and I'm really excited about what God's doing here at Calvary Chapel.

So, all right. Now, for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 1. Psalm 1. Looking at the New American Standard so we sound the same and I guarantee there's one in a row around you. If you need a copy of the New American Standard, and as you are turning to Psalm 1, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the opening verse. I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Father, we come to you now and we just ask that you would do that with your word in our hearts, Lord. That you would establish us like trees planted firmly, by the streams of water. Lord, that we would yield fruit, that we would have deep roots, and that we would grow in you. And so, Father, teach us from your word this morning, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Well, we've been away from 2 Thessalonians for quite a while now, about a month actually. And truthfully, I had to sit down Thursday morning and start studying and try to remember what we'd even been talking about. So it took me the first hour or two of studying to wrap my mind

around where we were in 2 Thessalonians. So I want to do just a little bit of a recap for us, kind of about where we are and where we're going in 2 Thessalonians here. It was written about maybe a year after 1 Thessalonians was written because an issue had arisen within the Thessalonican church. They had been enduring a great deal of persecution. They had been enduring a great deal of hardship and affliction.

And so there was a false teaching going around that they were living in the midst of the tribulation, that they were living in the midst of the day of the Lord. And so they were pretty fearful because of that and a little discouraged because of it. So Paul wrote this letter of 2 Thessalonians to encourage them and to teach them. And so we said it broke down into three chapters and three main subjects.

In chapter 1, he was going to encourage them. In chapter 2, he's going to instruct them. And in chapter 3, he's going to exhort them based on that encouragement and that instruction. And so in chapter 1, he encouraged them in three things. Number 1, he encouraged them by appreciating them. He took time just to praise God and appreciate what God had done in them, that they were full of faith, that they were full of

love, and they had a great deal of perseverance, especially in the midst of their affliction. That they continue to persevere in the midst of the hardships that they were living through. The second thing by way of encouragement is he literally just encouraged them. And the word of encouragement that he spoke to them was that though they were dealing with affliction and persecution, God saw what they were going through and he would deal with those who were afflicting them.

That just because someone was doing things to them that were wrong did not mean that God didn't see it and that God would eventually deal with that because God is righteous to judge in those ways. And then the third thing that he did is he prayed for them. Because one of the most encouraging things we can do for each other is to pray for each other. And he prayed, first of all, that they would walk worthy, that they would be strong in their walk with Jesus Christ, and that they would glorify the Lord in the midst of everything that they did and how they lived their lives in the midst of that affliction and that persecution.

And so as we come to chapter 2, he begins to instruct them. And this is really the heart of 2 Thessalonians. He begins to instruct them about the day of the Lord, in particular one of the greatest signs of the day of the Lord, and that is the man of lawlessness. And so this morning is entitled Instructions Part 1. And there's two things that he's going to do in chapter 2.

And it's going to take us two or three weeks to get through it. Number one, he's going to talk to them about the man of lawlessness. But number two, he's going to tell them about the stand of the believer in light of that coming tribulation. In light of that coming day of the Lord. And so we pick up in chapter 2, verse 1, and this is what it says.

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you the truth about these things? Now, as we get into chapter 2, there's a couple of things we need to keep in mind. And the first thing that we need to keep in mind is what he says in verse 5.

He says, don't you remember that I have already told you about these things? Now, what we don't have is the luxury of every teaching that Paul had with the Thessalonican church. So there's a certain amount of things that we don't know everything that he told them. However, based on chapter 2 and some of our other readings of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. There's a certain idea of what he taught them.

So we can ascertain most of what he had to say. But there are probably some blank spaces that we have. But the second thing that I want to tell you about 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is it's one of the more controversial chapters in the Bible. Because it deals with the end times. It deals with end times matters. And because of that, it's a pretty controversial chapter.

And I'm going to do the best that I can to navigate it in a biblical way while also to an extent giving you my opinion on these things. But to give you an example. I read six commentaries yesterday just on this one section. And there were four different opinions given in those six commentaries. And each of those opinions was convinced that theirs was right and

everybody else's was wrong. And that you, if you wanted to be right, needed to believe them. And so it's a little bit of a controversial section. So I'm going to handle it the best that I can biblically and try to say, hey, this is what the Bible says. And I think the fact that the lights flashed means that it's really important what we're about to go through right now.

Right? And so I'll do the best that I can to handle it biblically. But we'll do everything that we can to do this in a proper way. And so Paul says,

Paul presents for us, he says, when it comes to this scene, this thing that I'm telling you about, I don't want you to be shaken, but we'll get to that in just a minute. He discusses a scene or an event that will take place that we often refer to as the second coming of Christ. Now, I believe that based on what he says here, that second coming will take place in two different acts, two different portions of the second coming of Christ. One has to do with him coming for his church.

The other has to do with him coming with his church. In 1 Thessalonians, we talked about him coming for his church. When Paul told them, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep for in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up, which is where we get our word rapture from, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and then forever we will be with the Lord.

I believe that's what he's talking about when he says, our gathering together or our assembling ourselves to him. That's him coming for his church. That's the first portion of the second coming. But the second part is him returning with his church. If you were to jump into the book of Revelation, you would find that I think it's Revelation 13, although I may be off on that, might be 19.

When Jesus comes riding on a white horse, there are with him an entire crew of people that are all clothed in white, which is how the church is described in the book of Revelation. They are coming with him to return to the earth for that second coming. That's him returning with his church. And so when he says, we request you brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the coming with his church, and our being assembled together with him, that's him coming for his church, I don't want you to be quickly shaken.

Now again, not everybody agrees with what I just said about verse 1, and that's okay. They're entitled to be wrong. But, that's a joke, I'm just kidding. Not everybody agrees on this, and I wrestle with this myself, because I want to know that I'm interpreting things correctly. But it does seem to be, the way that scripture lays out, based on my own study of it.

Either way, we believe that Jesus is coming again. And when it comes to his second coming, he says, I do not want you to be quickly shaken from your composure, or disturbed by a spirit, or a message, or a letter, as if, to the effect, the day of the Lord has come. He makes these requests, and he's going to give a warning. And the request that he makes, is that first of all, they not be quickly shaken.

That word shaken, is a violent term in the Greek language. It means, a sudden jolt. It is even translated as an earthquake, other places in scripture. And so he says, I don't want you to be jolted. I don't want you to live in this fear, to where every new thing that comes along, absolutely shakes you. To where every event that happens, you find yourself rocked to your core.

Let me put it to you in my speak. I don't want you to be chickens with their heads cut off, when every new thing comes along. And listen, this happens to us as the church, right? I've heard so many times, people get absolutely shaken by the next new thing that comes. Remember when COVID happened, and everybody kind of freaked out? Oh man, what's going on? I bet this is the pestilence that's being spoken of.

Oh no, maybe it's about to happen. And then the vaccine came along, and everybody said, don't take the vaccine, it's the mark of the beast. I literally watched it. I watched entire videos of people saying, don't take the vaccine, it's the mark of the beast. I call that being quickly shaken, right? That's being quickly shaken by something that you hear. Do you guys remember, we just had New Year's, right?

And we reminisced on this a little bit. Do you guys remember Y2K? Some of you do, some of you weren't born yet. And everybody went out. I'm not gonna make you raise your hands, but how many of you all still have bags of beans and generators from it, right? Because everybody was like, that's it? Everything's gonna reset back to 1900? And nothing of the internet's gonna work anymore?

The electric company's not gonna work anymore? There's not gonna be water? Everything's gonna fall apart? I would say that we were shaken by that. Would you agree? And that's kind of what we do with things, right? October 7th happened. And everybody says, oh no, it's Armageddon. It's all coming together. And we get quickly shaken by it. And Paul says, I don't want you to be shaken by these things.

I don't want you to constantly run around with your head cut off and your prophecy chart. Every time something new happens. Number one, don't be shaken. Number two, he says, I also don't want you to be disturbed. The word disturbed means a continual state of being upset or unsettled. In other words, that continual fear that people live in. Listen, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ

and you're watching the events that have taken place, the potential of living in fear is pretty high. Can we all agree with that? There's been a lot that's happened. Just think about what all has happened since January the 1st. No, I think everything happened after midnight on January the 1st. New Orleans, a truck drives into a crowd and kills, I think 10 people was the number that were killed and about 35 injured.

And it appeared that it was some sort of a terrorist attack. In Las Vegas, a cyber truck was parked out in front of a hotel. And it blew up. And people were injured and killed. And some think it was a terrorist attack. Do you know that on that same day in Hawaii, there was a fireworks accident in a neighborhood that killed a whole bunch of people? Do you know that a few days before that,

this was before January 1st, a plane crash landed in South Korea and it killed everybody on the plane? And on that same day, we bombed, I think it was the Houthis over in Yemen. I might have that off. I think it was on January 1st that we did that as well to get rid of some weapons over there. And listen, you hear all these things and you kind of start going,

oh my gosh, the world is crazy. I'm a little fearful. And he says, I don't want you to live with that unsettled feeling. I don't want you to live constantly with that fear. He says, this is what I don't want you to live in fear about. And I don't want your composure to be disturbed by either a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if it is from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

He said, first of all, I don't want you to be disturbed by somebody who says, I've got this spirit and I know it.